Ed Christian's World

The Mt. Of Olives Goat…

On the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year, the High Priest stood with the scapegoat, pronouncing the sins of Israel over the goat. Symbolically placing them on it. He turned to the multitudes and said, “You shall be cleansed.”

A priest then led the goat out of the temple, through the Eastern Gate, and up to the Mount of Olives. The people watched as their sins ascended the mountain, then disappeared, taken into the wilderness.

The Mount of Olives was the vanishing point for the scapegoat and their sins, which it carried. Jesus is our scapegoat. He took our sins upon Himself. And then, just as the scapegoat, He went to the Mount of Olives, and there He vanished. The scapegoat disappeared into the wilderness, but Jesus disappeared into Heaven. It means there’s no way on earth.

Literally, you can find your sins in Jesus. He’s taken them out of the world and into the sky. Let them go already. Let them vanish from your heart as they’ve vanished from the earth. Let them go forever with your Holy Scapegoat… into the sky.

But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 1 John 3:5

Let go of the shame from your past today. Jesus’s blood has made you clean. Confess it and believe it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Sound Of Silence 2…

God told Zechariah that because of his disbelief, he was going to be silent until the birth of his son Yochanan; John. The silence was a sign. The prophet Ezekiel was told he would be silent yet he was God’s mouthpiece.

It was a prophetic silence and a sign. God was speaking through the silence. Have you sought to hear from God and it seems He’s quiet; not speaking? Realize that He is, because He speaks eloquently in silence.

He might be saying, “I’ll take care of it,” or “You already know the answer,” or “Do what I told you to do, what I’ve already revealed to you and I’ll lead you further,” or “I want you to seek Me more; come nearer than you ever have,” or “I want you to persevere,” or “I don’t want you to go by signs.”

The Lord spoke to Israel not just by speaking, but by not speaking, by speaking in the silence of the prophet. The Lord will answer you as well, but sometimes the most powerful thing you can ever hear from God is nothing.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

If it seems God has been silent, today is the time to trust the Word He has already given you. Rest in His faithfulness.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Getting Out Of Judgement…

A very simple truth, judgement and judgment are the same word. Now that doesn’t seem to mean anything, but there are two kinds. The judgment of God against you, your sins, and the judgment you pass on other people. You can’t have one without the other.

Luke 6:37 says, “Don’t judge and you won’t be judged; don’t condemn and you won’t be condemned; pardon and you’ll be pardoned.” If you want to have nothing to do with the judgment of God against your sins, then you have to have nothing to do with judgment against other people’s sins.

Jesus died so that He would have nothing to do with judgment, not only the judgment of God against our sins, but our own judgments against others. Both are crucial. Becoming a person who has nothing to do with judgment means you are someone who doesn’t judge, you don’t condemn, you don’t gossip, you don’t slander, you don’t revile.

Overcome judgment with mercy. As you forgive, you shall be forgiven. Have nothing to do with judgment on earth and you will have nothing to do with it in eternity.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. Psalm 19:9

Have you been holding a judgment against someone? Let it go today. Turn it over to God who is the only Judge and be free.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

On The Sidelines..

A man needing healing planned to get into the Pools of Bethesda, but was unable. There, Jesus met him on the sidelines. Not exactly how he planned it, but he got what he needed. In Israel, at the Pools of Bethesda, I shared about God’s mercy. I walked away feeling as if my sharing wasn’t complete.

At our next stop, a missionary from Africa came up to me and told me he had been there to pray for the sick he works with. “I heard you, a believer like the Apostles, share about the Hebrews and God’s mercy. I was so ministered to. Thank you.”

Then it hit me – that’s what the Pool of Bethesda is about. We have our ideas and plans, a way we think God is going to do something, but He doesn’t often use our plan. It’s in the closed doors and detours that God blesses us in another way.

So don’t be so caught up in your plans, routines, and ideas that you miss the plan of God. And the miracle that’s waiting for you on the sidelines of the Pools of Bethesda.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Let God orchestrate your day today. Go with His plan, even if it isn’t your plan.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Counseling At The Market…

I was walking in a mall once, about noon. As I passed the payphone, it rang. I had nothing to lose so I picked it up and said hello. She said, “Is this the counseling center?” I replied, “No, this is Ed, but maybe I can help.”

She started sharing with me, and I was able to counsel her to trust Jesus. Scripture teaches us to make the most of every opportunity. There’s people who need salvation everywhere. Be ready to be interrupted and do His will.

When you’re busy doing your own thing, look for opportunities to do His thing; to be about His business. Be ready for any opportunity to serve Him, to share, to witness, to proclaim Him. Make the most of your time. You’ll find opportunities, because there’s a world that needs Him.

There will be divine appointments waiting for you, even today. There’ll be good works prepared for you beforehand so that you might enter into them. Who knows? You might end up doing a counseling session at the mall.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Look for divine appointments today to be used by God. Take every opportunity He brings.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Trumpet and The Harvest…

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year’s Biblical name is “Yom Teruah” Day of the Blasting – Feast of Trumpets. Israel was commanded to blow the Shofar; the ram’s horn, to signal that the summer harvest was over, the Great Day of Atonement was near.

Get ready to stand before your God. The Feast of Trumpets is prophetic. We’re in the age of the great harvest. The next great event will be the sound of the trumpets which will end the harvest. Then we will each stand before God.

We pretend this life will never end. We waste our time putting off what we know is right for tomorrow. We fall asleep. But the Feast of Trumpets is God’s wake-up call; you don’t have forever here. You walk through this life only once and one day you’ll stand before your Maker.

Therefore, if you would do good, repent, tell that person you love them, forgive or be forgiven, get right, step out in faith, live in righteousness. Do it now. Hear the trumpets, do it today. For tomorrow may not come and the day of salvation is today.

in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52

Make the most of your day today by serving the Lord in all that you say and do. Time is short.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Becoming The Shofar…

The most uniquely biblical instrument is the shofar or ram’s horn. The root word for “shofar” means “clear.” A shofar must make a clear sound, and be cleared through. Any obstruction and the sound will be hindered.

You can’t blow through something that’s clogged. You’re called to be a vessel, an instrument of the Lord’s purposes. You’re to be the Lord’s shofar that He blows through. In Hebrew “breath” is “ruach”. “Ruach” also means “Spirit.”

As the Lord’s instrument, you must be free of obstructions: bitterness, apathy, selfishness, pride, lust, carnality, immorality, fear, sin. Anything outside of God’s will obstructs the blowing of His breath.

Do you want God to be able to make a great sound through your life? Then His breath — His Spirit must flow through you. Get those blockages out. Start clearing up your vessel. Anything out of God’s will isn’t only bad, it’s stopping you from knowing a Spirit-filled life.

2 Timothy 2:21 says, “If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor.” The Lord wants to use you. It’s time to become a clear vessel. Get unblocked.

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

Identify anything that’s blocking God’s Spirit from moving in your life today. Get cleansed from it and ask Him to blow through you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Unchangeable…

We often have a hard time with change. We want others to change their ways, attitude, behavior or opinion. We want our financial situation, our job or living situations to change. But the fact is that nothing has to change, but us; our hearts and minds.

The only one who’s unchangeable is God. He says, “I change not.” But as for us, we can’t live our lives without changing. If we don’t change, we can’t grow and we die. Our whole salvation starts with change, repentance, becoming a new creation; putting away the old self, putting on the new and growing in maturity.

Being born again is change. You’re the only thing you have to make sure changes and nothing else, not your situation, but you. We have no control over anyone else’s change, just our own. Open your heart, your life, your will, and your mind today, so you can change and become more like Him and be changed.

Be a change for God. For God is the only One who changes not. That’s His job to change not, and He shouldn’t. But your job is to change.

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6

Examine yourself in light of God’s Word. What doesn’t line up? Open your life up to change – and start changing today!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Days Of Jesus…

In the rabbinic writings, it says, “The light will shoot up between heaven and earth and rest in the land of Galilee. For there was the beginning of Israel’s exile, and there – Jesus will reveal Himself in that light. He will return to His place, and then the whole world will see that King Jesus revealed Himself in the land of Galilee.”

Wow! That’s exactly where Jesus Yeshua revealed Himself; the place that was first judged by God, the land of the broken. His grace came there first. When you think of Jesus on the shores of Galilee, remember the people there were broken.

God wants to heal the broken. When you mess up and feel completely unworthy as if you can’t even approach God, when you want to run the other way and hide; run to Him.

He’s the Jesus of Galilee, the One whose heart is for the fallen and the broken. You’ll find the blessings of His love, grace, healing and miracles in the arms of the Galilean, the Jesus.

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Psalm 51:1

Is there an area in your heart that has been broken? Run into Jesus’s arms and let Him heal you today.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

He Who Loves Much…

Jesus told a Pharisee, “He who’s forgiven much, loves much. He who’s been forgiven little, loves little.” Does that mean the Pharisee didn’t have as many sins as the sinful woman?

He read Scripture, prayed, and gave tithes. He didn’t think he had a lot to be forgiven for. He was just as much a sinner as anyone else, but he didn’t realize it.

We’re all infinitely separated from God and need His infinite forgiveness. The one who loves more is the one who realizes they’ve been forgiven more and receives it. Believers who think they really don’t need a lot of forgiveness are the ones who will love less, rejoice less, and live less on fire for God.

But those who know the ugliness of their sin and the immense price paid know that without God, there’s nothing. You’ve been forgiven an eternity of judgment. That’s enough for you to become a person who loves much, forgives much, rejoices much, and lives all out for God. Because Jesus has done it, and that’s enough for you to live a life of love and joy.

The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. Psalm 145:20

Meditate on all God has forgiven you and that you’re not going to hell. Then, live your day in the thankfulness, love, grace, and joy that come out of knowing it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed