Ed Christian's World

The Grand Rabbi…

The head of the church isn’t a pope; it isn’t a minister; it’s a Rabbi. Yeshua, Jesus is a Rabbi. He’s called Rabbi, and He’s the grand Rabbi. The Rabbi in Jewish culture was the one who taught you. He expounds on God’s word.

In fact, there was a word that went along with rabbi; it was always rabbi and talmeedeem. The talmeedeem were the learners. One of the main ministries of Messiah to us is to teach us because He is the Rabbi.

That means that if we are His, we are talmeedeem. You are a disciple; you are a talmeedeem. As a student, we are to learn more about the Lord, about His ways, His word, His love, to become like Him, your Rabbi. The wonderful thing is that you have a great Rabbi. He will lead you if you follow Him.

That means your life is a course and the greatest course ever given. Set your heart to know God and to learn from Him. He will teach you now, every moment, every day of your life, a new lesson, because the head of the church and of you is a Rabbi.

Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice surely; the Lord has done great things! Do not be afraid; your wild animals for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, people of Zion rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rain because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. Joel 2: 21-23

Sit at the feet of the Teacher, learn the ways of the Master, we are all called to be of the holy priesthood to be like Him, we never stop learning the truth.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Door and The Window…

In Acts 9, Paul is in danger and there are people out for his life. He is being guarded and can’t go out the regular gate of the city. So what does he do? He goes out the window.

The door is the place you think of going out. If the door is closed, we think there is no way to get out. In life, we can get our mind or heart so set on something, that if one thing closes, we lose hope. If a door closes in ministry or a relationship, we lose hope.

Maybe the door wasn’t God’s will. Maybe it wasn’t God’s will to serve Him that way, but it is God’s will to serve Him. So, the door closed, but a window of ministry is going to be open. Maybe it wasn’t God’s will in that relationship, but it is His will for you to have joy.

So, that door of joy may be closed, but the window of joy is going to be open. Don’t give up when it comes to God’s will and His promises. Chances are, there is already a window open.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Seek God’s will in all things. Be assured when He speaks His will. It might not be what we see as the obvious answer, but He is calling us to follow Him through the window.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Faith – Hope – Love…

Hope and Faith are synonymous with each other, but does that mean they are the same?

Hope is defined as: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, a feeling of trust.

Faith is defined as: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

Synonymous, but not quite the same. They both define as a trust, one a feeling of trust, the other a complete trust. For me they are so close they could be the same. Take for instance this: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the reality of things unseen. This verse from the Book of Hebrews Chapter 11 Verse 1 probably defines the very essence of both in one sentence.

We have faith that when we flip the switch, the light will turn on, yet we don’t see the electric power flowing through the wires. Being involved in the electric field I know the electricity is there, because I felt it many times in my life. Shocking, I know. I have faith in God, even though most have never seen Him, I have been in His immediate presence. But that is me, not everyone can say that.

Life is full of twists and turns. Sometimes a curve is thrown in somewhere in the middle. I’ve talked many times about rolling with the flow and living life to the fullest. Many times I have been asked how to roll when you don’t know what is around the next bend.

This is where Faith and Hope enter the. picture. I have faith that God knows what is best for me and hope that everything I need will be provided at the time it is needed. I have never been let down. There has been times that I had to look real hard for the solution, but it has always been there right in front of me.

I have also learned that I need to listen when He is talking to me, even when I think I can see the direction I need to take. Sometimes the path I think I need to take is not the path He wishes me to take and I end up re-tracing my steps and starting again. I’m sure we all have similar stories of life that we could share.

Our lives have had many very dark times, but through faith we have found the little light at the end of the tunnel to show us the way. Isn’t it nice that there is always a light showing us a way out of the darkness?

Faith is that light and hope is the reality that it will be there to lead us home. That is the essence of Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God is always there to guide us if we will just ask Him for direction.

I see this at night when I go out and look into the heavens. The stars give me hope and a satisfaction that God is watching over me. A long time ago I defined hope as when the darkest times come, the stars will come out.

I guess the essence of this is depending on how you define Faith and Hope in reality is how you define yourself. Are you living a life of joy and happiness, or are you constantly fighting with life, living in despair? Now, let me add Love..

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The many times I have written about Faith and Hope yet we still seem to end up forgetting what they are. Is it because we have little faith in our Father or little hope in our future? If so what can we do about it?

Today I will add the last part, Love, and show why it is the greatest of all three.

God is love! All things are possible through Him and only Him. It is through His love we have faith and a genuine hope for things to come. I believe this to be fact and live my life accordingly. He has never let me down. Even when I fell and fractured my hip He was there to pick me up and comfort me through the pain and surgery.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

LOVE IS… being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.

LOVE IS… making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.

LOVE IS… being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.

LOVE IS… a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.

LOVE IS… being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.

LOVE IS… being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.

LOVE IS… being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.

LOVE IS… daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

Love is all this and much, much more. All things we do in love shows others we have God in our hearts and that we let Him be our guide in our everyday life.

So that brings me back to 1 Corinthians 13:13 …and the greatest of these is love.

By the way in case you didn’t know: 1 Corinthians 13 is called the love chapter. You should read it again and again, it will open your eyes and heart to life.

When it is the darkest, the stars will come out.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Word For You Today…

In synagogues during ancient times, the pastors would minister using Biblical accounts: the past works of God, what God would one day do in His kingdom, when the time of the kingdom would come and what would come on the earth. One pastor did something different.

In Luke 4, after one Pastor read the prophecy of Isaiah he threw in a bombshell. He said, “Today in your hearing, this has been fulfilled.” Jesus’s redemption is now–forever–but now. Many of His people live as if the power of Jesus has past or is coming.

We say, “I’ll be free tomorrow, I’ll overcome tomorrow, I’ll fulfill the calling tomorrow,” but tomorrow never comes. Jesus’s power is now. Today is the day of salvation. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

Your repentance, your breakthrough, your victory, your blessing, and your ministry won’t come tomorrow. Jesus ministers today. He calls you, He speaks to you, and He opens His hands now.

If you respond, if you come, if you receive it, you will be blessed, and this scripture will be fulfilled in your hearing today.

This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances.” Isaiah 49:8

Live today as Holy unto the Lord, He is victorious today as He is all of our tomorrows. Draw near to Him, as you minister. Jesus ministers and comes in power today.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Disappearing Dictators…

A believer suffered under Stalin and other dictators for his Christian faith. He had a dream one night that all these dictators were at a table.

Instead of condemning them, hating them and blaming them for all the suffering they caused him, he asked them for forgiveness for not being able to thank them for the blessings they gave him.

Through the persecution came God’s great blessings, purification, holiness, humility and unconditional joy. He forgave them, asked for their forgiveness, thanked them, and one by one they disappeared. The man had no more enemies.

When you fight your enemies in the flesh, you have a greater enemy. Forgive them, love them and they disappear. You will no longer see them as an enemy. When you love your enemies, they aren’t enemies anymore.

Holding on to wrongs, injustices and sins against you will be a burden. Thank God for them, for the purification, holiness, long-suffering, endurance, unconditional love and joy that came as a result.

One by one, these problems will disappear, replaced by blessings. Try today and see what happens, because in God’s grace, you have the power to turn curses into blessings.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Romans 12:14

Do not hold on to hate, wrongs and problems. Release them to our God. Our enemies and those who hate us are only temporary. But our blessings, holiness and love last forever.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Little Monsters…

When I was a child, one Saturday, the morning monster movie was about a mummy. A guy was dead for about 3,000 years and was all bandaged up. He tried chasing people, but he could hardly move. You felt sorry for the guy and wanted to help him.

Too many believers walk like mummies. They walk slowly because of all the wrappings and old dead things from the past. It is hard for a mummy to jump for joy, run the good race, walk the good walk, hug another person or show love because of all the old wrappings.

Are you still wearing old wrappings? You are not alone. Lazarus was dead and Jesus raised him to life and said to remove the wrappings. Lazarus was alive, but he could hardly move.

You can be raised to life, but not able to move because you are still wearing old wrappings from the past. He didn’t raise you up to be a walking mummy, but to be free! Take off the burial clothes, bindings, baggage, and run the race, and jump for joy. Break through the bondage and be free.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Embrace the new creature that is you in our Savior, for you have been set free from all earthly bindings. Throw off the old you and rejoice, for you have been redeemed.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Radiance of His Glory…

Hebrews 1 says that He is the exact representation of God. The Greek word refers to a tool that engraves; an ID to distinguish it from anything else. The Greek word is “Kharakter” or character.

People have many pictures of God: distant, wrathful, uncaring or capricious. But here it says the Son is the exact representation, the exact character. You want to see God, the king of the universe? Look at the “Kharakter,” the exact thing. The character is the Son of God.

What is God really like–His heart, His nature? Look at the “Kharakter,” the exact image, the ID. Look at the one hanging on the cross, bleeding, giving His life for you. That is the “Kharakter” of God, the seal. That’s Him. That’s His identity.

That’s who He is. That’s His nature, His heart. What is God? That’s God. Who is God? God is love. That’s how much He loves you. Don’t ever doubt again.

Know this now, at all times and in all circumstances, God does love you more than you could ever fathom, and that One on the cross is the very Seal of the Living God, that’s His “Kharakter.”

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16

We who are in Jesus, have a future and a hope, He is the source of our joy and our worship. Make your character mirror His, as He lives and breathes into your life.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Above…

It says in Colossians to set our mind on that which is above, where our life is hidden. We are called to live a heavenly life, in the heavenlies. Heaven is not just up, it’s above.

Up is a direction, above means it’s over something else. Set your mind and heart on what is above, where heaven is. Living a heavenly life is to live not just up, but to live an above-this-life, life; to live above yourself.

It’s amazing. It says to set your mind on things above, that’s where your life is. Well, how can it be where you are if you are here, and yet it is above you. That’s the secret. Learn to live above yourself: above your ego, fears, your interests, rights, the confines of yourself and ego, above the flesh, to be free in heaven and to let go.

When you are in an argument, live above it, step out of your grievance, out of your problem. It won’t be your problem anymore. Heaven is a place of joy and it’s above you. You’ll have freedom, joy and release when you start to dwell above yourself.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:2-3

Set your heart and mind on Him, so that you are Kingdom Come focused. Earthly troubles no longer trouble you or slow you down. Let your walk show Jesus reigns forever more.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Jesus and The Crushed Flowers…

Naturally made perfumes are from crushing flowers. A definition of forgiveness is the smell of a flower when it is stepped upon; crushed. We are to manifest the fragrance of Jesus, the fragrance of grace, mercy, and forgiveness, sweet righteousness, and love.

It’s the smell of a flower when it’s stepped on. When you prepare a banquet for those who hurt you, when you bless them, that’s the fragrance of Jesus. When you are sinned against, instead of cursing them, bless them.

When your pride is stepped upon, and your reputation and feelings are stepped upon, instead of anger, hurt, or paying back, of being depressed, you die to self and give them the love of God in return.

That’s the fragrance of Jesus. Jesus was crushed, but in that crushing, He forgave them. From that crushing comes our redemption, the sweet fragrance of Jesus.

You do the same. What comes out of your life when you are pressed, stepped on, or crushed, that’s what you are. So be beautiful as He is beautiful and manifest the sweet fragrance of Jesus. Forgiveness is the smell a flower makes when it’s stepped on.

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:15

Surprise those who hurt you or wronged you by doing the opposite of what they expect, bless them and forgive them. Show God’s love is greater and stronger.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

What You’re Born For…

You say, it’s hard to worship and pray; it’s not for you. You spend hours watching TV or on the internet, but can’t spend time worshiping? Not cut out for it.

If you’re born again, you are born to worship. According to I Peter, you are kohaneem, a priest. As in the Old Covenant, you are kohaneem in the New, born to worship and praise God. Not cut out for it?

No, no, you were born for it in the new birth; it’s in your new nature, and your new heart. It’s more natural for you to be in His presence than watching TV; to listen to His voice than the radio; to read His word rather than that magazine, to look at Him rather than that object of lust.

You were born a royal priest to worship Him, to dwell in His glory. It’s your new nature. Believe it; exercise it. Do as every priest–enter His presence, dwell in His courts, minister to your God, and you will find the joy and desire of your heart because the priests, the kohaneem, are called to worship. It’s the very thing they were born to fulfill.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

Remove obstacles stopping you from learning what it feels like to be in His presence the whole day – sing His praises, talk to Him, find your joy there. You will find the secret of His blessings.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed