Him who glories

Thus says the LORD, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the eretz: for in these things I delight, says the LORD. - Yirmiyahu/ Jeremiah 9:23-24

If I would have enough wisdom to know all secrets and all knowledge but due to it I would start to doubt that Adonai IS, how would my knowledge benefit me?
How would it benefit me to know the speed of sound if I wouldn't understand that when nothingness heard the sound of Adonai's voice it started to come into shape? Why should I know that light travels with such speed that no common unit of measurement can be used to evaluate it the ordinary way, if I wouldn't understand that Adonai is the Light that shines in my darkness? Why should I know Earth's total mass if I wouldn't know that Adonai holds it in the palm of His hand? How would it be any use to me knowing that our galaxy alone has more than 200 billion stars, if I wouldn't understand that Adonai knows each and every one of them by name? How would it help me to have all wealth if I wouldn't know that it means nothing in Adonai's value system? How would it benefit me to have all strength and not know that His strength is made perfect in my weakness? Why should I fight for anything if I wouldn't know that He is Conqueror? Why should I breath if I wouldn't know the breath of life? Why should I know the anatomy of the human body if I wouldn't know that man was made in Adonai's image? Why should I know silence if I wouldn't know how to find Adonai in it? Why should I ever love if I wouldn't know that Love died and resurrected for my sake? Why should I even be if I wouldn't understand that above all things HE IS?
Should I glory in my wisdom? There are billions of things that I don't know in the seen world let alone in the unseen world, but I do know the One that made them both. I don't know any scientific fact of great importance, but I do know that Adonai is the One who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. Everything else in science is just an upgraded version of this statement.


Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina כריסטינה

That's my King!

My King was born King. The Bible says He's a Seven Way King. He's the King of the Jews - that's an Ethnic King. He's the King of Israel - that's a National King. He's the King of righteousness. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of Heaven. He's the King of glory. He's the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords. Now that's my King.

Well, I wonder if you know Him. Do you know Him? Don't try to mislead me. Do you know my King? David said the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of the shore of His supplies. No barriers can hinder Him from pouring out His blessing.

He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. That's my King. He's God's Son. He's the sinner's saviour. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He's honest. He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He's pre-eminent. He's the grandest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the supreme problem in higher criticism. He's the fundamental doctrine of historic theology. He's the carnal necessity of spiritual religion. That's my King.

He's the miracle of the age. He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him. He's the only one able to supply all our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He's the Almighty God who guides and keeps all his people. He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharged debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek. That's my King.

Do you know Him? Well, my King is a King of knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory. He's the master of the mighty. He's the captain of the conquerors. He's the head of the heroes. He's the leader of the legislatures. He's the overseer of the overcomers. He's the governor of governors. He's the prince of princes. He's the King of kings and He's the Lord of lords. That's my King.

His office is manifold. His promise is sure. His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His Word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you . . . but He's indescribable. That's my King. He's incomprehensible, He's invincible, and He is irresistible.

I'm coming to tell you this, that the heavens of heavens can't contain Him, let alone some man explain Him. You can't get Him out of your mind. You can't get Him off of your hands. You can't outlive Him and you can't live without Him. The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him. Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him. The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree about Him. Herod couldn't kill Him. Death couldn't handle Him and the grave couldn't hold Him. That's my King.

He always has been and He always will be. I'm talking about the fact that He had no predecessor and He'll have no successor. There's nobody before Him and there'll be nobody after Him. You can't impeach Him and He's not going to resign. That's my King! That's my King!

Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Well, all the power belongs to my King. We're around here talking about black power and white power and green power, but in the end all that matters is God's power. Thine is the power. Yeah. And the glory. We try to get prestige and honor and glory for ourselves, but the glory is all His. Yes. Thine is the Kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever and ever and ever. How long is that? Forever and ever and ever and ever. . . And when you get through with all of the ever's, then . . .Amen!

Dr. S. M. Lockeridge




Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina כריסטינה

רק אדוני

אני כבר למעלה ולמטה, קדימה ואחורה אדוני אתה תמיד שם בשבילי. תודה לך אדוני. אתה היחיד שחשוב לי. בשבילך
אני עושה כל מה שאני עושה. בשבילך, אני כל כך אני ... מעל כל הדברים אני שלך. אני אוהבת אותך אדוני



בת מלך
כריסטינה

Yiddishkeit

Prayer

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Rain in the desert

I was writing yesterday about the way my earth has turned into pure desert, that I don't just go through the desert and when my desert will end and I'll reach some other form of land my state of mind will change, but I have turned into a desert. I was talking to Emma last night and I was telling her that what go through is not a depression that I can't overcome because I am too self involved, but is just a place I've reached where all I can do is be silent, a place where I don't demand my rights anymore, I don't yearn for the mountains I used to be on top of nor the still waters, it's just a place where I accept the fact that this is the road that Adonai is taking me on, it's only that the sun has burned everything in me and reduced it to sand. The reasons I am silent are few...one> because the desert is no mountain and it can't carry your echo, so you can yell as much as you want because it won't make a difference ... second> I accept the fact that I didn't end up here because I disobeyed Him and that I won't get out of here because of my righteousness, but some things are meant to be lived and only after you go through them you can say if they were useful or not... and third> I asked Adonai once to make me feel His heart and sadly He's been listening to me ever since. There is a verse in Zephaniah 3:17 that says Adonai is silent in His love ... there were many times when Adonai called me to do something and I pretended I didn't hear, or I postponed it because other things were more important to me, so what was He suppose to do with me? Kill me? beat me? Yell at me? write with His hand on the sky that it's for my own good? No... Adonai was silent in His love even though I stood condemned and now I am silent even though my flesh is condemning Him, because I love Him.
I didn't get much sleep last night thinking what can 'repair' this desert of mine and the only logical thing is rain. Yeshua said He is the Water of life. It's Him that i need. It's for Him that I am silent. It's because of Him that I'm a desert. I don't need mountains, I don't need better circumstances, I don't need cheap joys, I don't need still waters, I need the Living Water. I wait for Him with every grain of sand that I am... with everything that's dry within me I make room for Him to come and rain me blessings. I need Him to caress my sand and His touch of pure rain to transform me into a garden. I don't need Him to take me up on the mountain, I don't have my mind set on building 3 tabernacles like Kefa, I don't look for revelations greater than the touch of His rain that would bring forth fruit in me. His touch has no purpose if it doesn't transform me. If I want to be touched by Him only for the thrill of the supernatural, then i can stay on that superficial level as much as I chose and always be the same. His touch changes, whatever is sick is healed, whatever is broken gets repaired, whatever is fainting He strengthens. There is no grater miracle than to hang on to an unseen God with both your hands. I don't need to see the dead coming to life because I've felt my own death becoming life in His presence. I don't need no 'favor of God' theory nor prosperity teachings to prove me that whatever He promises He fulfills. I am not amazed by people that speak in tongues, or fall down or prophecy, or do wonders, but I am amazed when I see steadfast people that come what may, they stand with Adonai. The supernatural things are natural for God, but to see a lost soul turning to Him, now that calls for a party in heavens. There is no greater miracle than to see all things coming together to break a man's trust in God, to prove to him that his faith is in vain, but that man just won't let go of the robe he grabbed. It's not a miracle to be up on the mountain! It's a miracle to carry the mountain in your heart when you've turned into a desert.
I don't need words to lift me up because I didn't fall, I am still me just in a different form and the only thing I need it's Him... my rain, my smile, my heart... Only Him.
Come Yeshua and let Your rain touch me and then I'll bring forth fruit and You'll be pleased with me. Every grain of sand within me waits for You and I look at You like slaves look to the hand of their master, although I am Your daughter... When my sand will see You Yeshua it won't be able to not be fruitful...
אני כאן, בבקשה לבוא ישוע עכשיו אתה המלך שלי אני שלך
I thought that the desert becoming a garden after rain is just a nice theory but I found a video that speaks for itself.
And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. -Yechezkel/ Ezechiel 34:25-27


Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Desert

Everything has changed in my life in the past couple of weeks, actually it changed in such a way that I didn't even have time to react or protest or adjust, just time to resign. I was telling Ioana yesterday that I feel like a kid that's taken to the doctor to get a shot and no matter how much he cries or fights it or fears it, it won't change the fact that he will get the medicine even if he's held down by others. The medicine itself has a good effect on the kid but all he knows is the weak feeling that breaks him to such a degree that he knows that tears don't count for anything so it's pointless to cry them.
Maybe at the core things wouldn't be so dramatic if one would look at them from the outside but I think that to be opinionated when it comes to someone's experiences would imply that you've been breathing through his lungs, you've been seeing through his eyes, you've been feeling through his heart, been hurt through his flesh and got hit through his skin. No one walked in my flesh, no one endured through my soul except Yeshua that is in me and that can see everything from within me... only He can have an opinion concerning me...
In the last couple of weeks I told myself 'breath!' more than I had to in 10 years. Why 'breath'? Because sometimes I panic so bad about the fact that everything in my life shows like Adonai left me that I need to remind myself He is there and the proof of that is that I am still breathing. If He would ever stop thinking about me I would cease to be.
So I breath as deep as I can... But it doesn't change the fact that it feels like everything I touch lately crumbles in my hands to such a degree that all the earth that I'm made of turns to sand. I already have so much sand and there's such a desert within me that the Sahara Desert seems small in comparison. I don't feel like I go through a desert because that would mean that at some point the desert will end, but I am the desert, so what hope is there left for me? Friday evening I was reading some words found in the book Yeshayahu written in huge letters up on a wall:
'The voice of one who cries, Prepare you in the wilderness the way of the LORD; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain: and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.' - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 40:3-5

I've been obsessed with these words ever since. You want a way made for You in my wilderness Adonai? Why don't you want a way made for You near a river or near something that actually brings forth fruit, why do You want a way made for You through all this endless sand?
I end up underestimating HaShem's love for me all the time. I always forget He is endless. I always forget He is love. I always forget He's an endless love and that if I didn't get to the point where I can understand all of Him then I can't possibly understand all His love or the way He chooses to work. Yes, the logic thing to do would be for Him to work a land that is actually fruitful, but my logic is wrong because it thinks that fruit has to do with the superior quality of the soil and Adonai just proves me time and time again that fruit has to do with the One working the soil and that can turn even a wilderness into a garden.
One of my favorite verses from the Torah says 'Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.' - Devarim/ Deuteronomy 30:4
If I am a fruitful soil for Him Baruch Hashem! I can boast about it but not to Adonai, but if my land and all the earth that I am has turned into a wilderness and if my sand would be banished to the most distant land under the heavens, I know with all my heart that the One who calls Himself I AM, will gather every grain of my sand because He is the only One that knows how I turned into this desert. Only He knows what every grain of sand was before it turned to sand. And if it so happens that I am desert now, I know that in all this nothingness and all this ugliness He wants me to prepare a way for Him so He would come to me. I asked HaShem 'even if I would start making a way for You, why would You ever come in the desert Melech Sheli (my King)?' I felt Him saying 'I've been there before'.
If there is anything left good in me it's Him. If He is seen in me beyond all this desert then I know it's not my doing.
If you go through the wilderness all you need is patience and determination to not quit until you're out, but if you are the wilderness then even if someone would place you in Gan HaEden (Garden of Eden) you'd still be a wilderness. My desert has nothing to do with the circumstances I'm in right now and I know my desert won't be less of a desert if I get out from the circumstances I face. I don't need either patience nor determination to have victory over my desert, but I need to prepare a way for the One that is Life itself, a way to come and tear down my mountains that I see too high for me to climb and change them into fruitful places, to come and exalt every valley, everything that I lack in my very own character that prevents me from seeing Him the way He really is. I know His glory will come. If I've became this desert I won't stay this way because I am preparing a way for Adonai in the desert even if it seems in vain. I know Adonai's Shekinah will be revealed in my desert and then everyone will know that this desert has no merits, but all glory belongs to the One that gathers every grain of my sand from the most distant land under heavens only so that I can be His with all I am. By Him, through Him and for Him are all things!

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Tisha b'Av

Tisha b'Av literally means - the 9th of Av- and it's a day of fasting and mourning for the Jewish people. They mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) in Yerushalayim and all the destruction that came upon the Jewish people ever since. It's a very sad day, probably the saddest day in Jewish history, a day when the Jews beg for the reconstruction of the third Temple and the coming of Mashaich. May it be HaShem's will that the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt soon and the redemption of the Jewish people begins. Bo Yeshua! Come Yeshua!






Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Chabad at World Cup

Although I am not a lubavitcher (chabad) fan 100%, I do believe that they are one of the best kiruv (bringing assimilated Jews close to Judaism) oriented Jewish sect, right next to the breslov Chassidim. Aside for the fact that both sects were a bit too obsessed with their Rabbis (Menachem Sheerson and Nachman b'Uman) they have a genuine love for Judaism and yiddishkeit (Jews) and in that respect I feel close to them. They believe that joy is the cure for anything. This video is just the proof of that. Enjoy!



Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

A soldier's story

Get out of Mitzrayim!

When Israel was in Mitzrayim (Egypt), Adonai commanded them to take a perfect lamb and sacrifice it. Its blood they were supposed to put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel of their houses and they had to eat all of the lamb, without leaving any leftovers. Adonai commanded that they should remember and do this as an eternal law (Shemot/ Exod 12:14), with one small difference: they wouldn't put the blood of the lamb on the two side posts and on the lintel. The blood was a one time thing. The Jews didn't have to put the blood of the lamb on the side posts on every Pesach (Passover), they only had to eat the lamb.
We know that this is a picture of what would happen when Mashiach would come. He is the perfect Lamb of Elohim. When someone is in Mitzrayim (Egypt) and is a slave of sin, they can come out of that only covered by the blood of Mashiach. This covering is done only once because you come out of Egypt only once. If you go back there then you crucify Yeshua again (Hebrews 6:6) and that it's impossible. It was too much for Adonai to watch His Holy Son being killed by sinners and He can't go through that again. Yeshua was glorified above all things and He can't get off His throne and suffer again just because you miss the cucumbers of Egypt (Bamidbar/ Numbers 11:5). If you were set free and got out of Egypt once then it's never an option to go back no matter what! If the Jews that came out of captivity would have returned there, then Adonai would have had to bring all the plagues against Mitzrayim again, they would have had to slain a perfect lamb again, the angel of death would have had to come again, and the entire liberation process would have had to be repeated, and that was impossible. If you couldn't do that with the blood of a lamb, then even less can you do it with the blood of Mashiach.
Once you decided you don't want to be a slave anymore and you took the blood of Yeshua then you must get out of Mitzrayim and never return again. The blood of Yeshua was spilled only once and it's not necessary to be crucified every time one chooses to go back to Egypt.
After the Jews were saved by the blood of the lamb, they had to eat the lamb so they would have strength to walk a long journey out of Egypt. It wasn't enough just to put the blood of the lamb on the side posts of their homes, that was just their ticket out of captivity, but each and every one of them had to go out and start walking on this path that Adonai would show them until they would reach Eretz HaKodesh (Holy Land). If a Jew would have chosen to put the blood on the side posts but would not go out of Egypt the next day, then what would he gain that he was covered by the blood? Same thing with us, if we've been covered by the blood of Yeshua then we must be ready to walk out of Egypt, not just to sit there and thank Him for His blood. What's the point to be covered by the blood if you are still in Egypt? If you've been covered by the blood of Yeshua then you must walk out of captivity, away from sin and never return to it, then you must walk on the path that Adonai will show you. The Jews didn't know the way to Israel, but they were lead there by Adonai as a cloud by day and pillar of fire at night.
We don't know the way to our promised land either but we know the Way and if we stay on it then it can't lead anywhere else but to Adonai.
The Way s not easy so we need to feed ourselves with the Lamb of Elohim so that we won't faint on the way, but even if it happens for us to fall He will lift us up because He's merciful and He values our walk with Him. The main thing is not to go back to Egypt!


Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

An eye for an eye

Some like to use this phrase ”an eye for an eye” to 'explain' why the Law was something way too severe and it's 'expired' because now it has been replaced by love. To secure that theory, they use Yeshua's words from Matthew 5:38-41 to support their theory which claims that the Law is done with.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.'

We know that Yeshua came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), and we know that 'an eye for an eye' is in the Law' so, if Yeshua didn't come to abolish the Law, then how can you explain His words?
The Jewish people have kept this mitzvah (commandment) for 4000 years and I can promise you that they're not a blind and toothless nation. "An eye for an eye" doesn't encourage revenge nor does it encourage people to make justice for themselves.
The context in which this mitzvah was given, is 'slightly' different than most like to quote it.

But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. "If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. - Shemot/ Exodus 21:21-26

Adonai has invented compensation. Up until the moment this mitzvah was given, the one that was stronger had absolute power and owed nothing to no one, specialy to someone poorer then them. One that was rich could harm a poor man without any consequence, without the poor person being comepensated in any way. Among goyim (non-Jews) a master could kill his slave if he so wanted to without being guilty of a crime because the slave was considered like an animal. In the same way if a man chose to beat his wife to death, he wasn't responsible in any way, because it was considered his right to do so. But Adonai is a loving God so He gave a loving Law, a Law that was sensitive even to the pain of a slave that normaly had no right whatsoever.
The Sanhedrin or the Beit Din (a court of law) was establishing the value of the loss and came up with an amount of money that would cover that loss.
'An eye for an eye' doesn't mean that if a man lost an eye or a tooth because of someone else, they would go and revenge their loss by doing the same thing to the other person.
What Yeshua is saying in Matthew 5:38-41 is that if somehow you were to lose an eye or a tooth don't ask for compensation, and if you are the one that left a man blind or toothless, then you shold pay even more than what they ask of you. If someone asks for compensation your coat let him take your cloak as well. And if he asks for compensation for you to walk 1 mile with him, then you should walk 2.
The verses in Matthew 5 are said in the context of the Law issued in Exodus 21, so it must be interpreted in that context and not to support a theory according to which Adonai no longer requires that which He once commanded. That would just make Him as changing as the weather and we know He's the same forever.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Butt Prints in the Sand

(writer unknown)

One night, I had a wondrous dream;
One set of footprints there was seen.
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?”
“Those prints are large and round and neat,
But, Lord, they are too big for feet.”
“My child,” He said in somber tones.
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith you would not know.
So I got tired and fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt,
Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave some butt prints in the sand.”

Faith in the Dark

Do you only believe when you can see with your eyes? When your prayers are answered and miracles carry you on their wings? Or do you also believe when circumstances fly in your face?
If it touches you to the core, if it is a belief you truly own, if it is as real to you as life itself, then it does not change.
And if it does not change, then you are bound up with the true essence of the One who does not change. -- Tzvi Freeman

Rack Israel - Only Israel

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

The Alef and the Tav

Thus says the LORD, the King of Yisra'el, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 44:6

Listen to me, O Ya`akov, and Yisra'el my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 48:12

I am the Alef and the Tav, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. - HaHitgalut/ Revelation 22:13

What does it mean that HaShem is First and Last, the Beginning and the End? If Adonai is God then He is eternal, meaning He has no beginning and no end. If HaShem is the Creator of all things that means He is not contained within the things He created, but above those things. Time is a creation of HaShem so that means HaShem is not contained within time. Eternity means absence of time and if He's Eternal then time has no meaning to Him.
When God says He's the Beginning and the End, it doesn't mean that time began with Him and it will end with Him, because His person has nothing to do in essence with time, so this must be about something else.
The only way I can understand these words is that He is The First, Highest, Greatest, First in position not in age, He's above all things while at the same time He is the Last, the End, the lowest, the servant... the One that lowered Himself lower than anyone and anything to redeem those that were too low to reach Him.
It could be hard for some to wrap their minds around it, but it's the same as believing that God is both Son and Father, both Lion and Lamb, both Water and Fire, etc.
Being First didn't stop Him to be Last, and being Last didn't stop Him to be First.
No matter what your position is, it's not higher than being the First, so that means you can also humble yourself to be last, and no matter how low you are, He went lower than that, so that means you can't let your position as being ~the last~ to stop you from trying to better yourself. Either way there is hope, that's why Yeshua came on earth> to give us hope no matter if we are first or last.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

No laughing matter

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Behold your God!

You who tell good news to Tziyon, go up on a high mountain; you who tell good news to Yerushalayim, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, don't be afraid; say to the cities of Yehudah, Behold, your God! - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 40:9

Rabonim (rabbis) say that there is a passuk (verse) in Kitvey HaKodesh (Holy Scriptures) for every person that ever lived, lives and will ever live on earth. I believe that mine is the 9th passuk of Yeshayahu 40. Why? Because I intend with all my heart to fix something that Pilate damaged.
A very long time ago, while reading about Yeshua's trial I got to the part where He was taken by Pilate before the Jews, wearing nothing but a crown of thorns and a purple robe, and Pilate with his limited understanding yelled 'behold the man!' (John 19:5). That's how Jews see Yeshua even today. Nothing but a man. A broken man, vulnerable, weak, pushed around by romans, tortured and powerless. And all that because 2000 years ago a goy took my Lord before the Jews and lifted his voice and said 'Behold the man!' I think that from where Pilate was standing that's all he could see> a man, so he told of what he saw. Pilate was a limited human and he reduced Yeshua to his own stature.
You can only present Yeshua from where you're standing. If you see Him through your humanity then you can only say about Him what Pilate said 'Behold the man!', but if you stand up on the high mountain, which is Adonai, then you can't help but see that Yeshua is Adonai and he is HaElohim shel Tzion (God of Tzion) and then you can't help but lift your voice and shout as much as you can for kol ha yehudim (all the Jews) to hear ”Hineh HaEloheichem!”(Behold, your God!)
If you want to see more than a human in Yeshua you must go up on the high mountain, Adonai. You must go up not for the purpose of being high but to be able to bring good news to Tzion. If that is not the purpose why you went up there, then you're there in vain.
I know Pilate wasn't up on the high mountain when he said 'behold the man!' to the Jews. The Jewish nation is not like other nations. You don't convince them with words and you don't disguise Yeshua in to something He's not, and you don't tell them 'behold the man!' and expect them to fall down on their knees and be convinced. If you want to bring the good news to Tzion you must go up the high mountain and shout with all your strength to all the cities of Yehudah ”Hineh HaEloheichem!” (Behold your God!)
A goy proclaiming 'behold the man!' was enough damage, they don't need to hear that anymore. But the Jews do need to hear the truth proclaimed without fear, without any trace of doubt 'BEHOLD YOUR GOD!' Hineh HaEloheichem!

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

The Father disciplines those He loves

and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons, "My son, don't take lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by him; For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, And scourges every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom his father doesn't discipline? But if you are without discipline, whereof all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not sons. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby. -Hebrews 12:5-11

You're considered to be a good citizen of a country if you obey all the laws of that land, and if you disobey one of these laws you are judged according to the laws you broke. But if you are a son, your father has a set of laws in his house that are not included in the legislation of the country you live in, but still he asks you to obey those laws, those rules he established in his house. If you break any of his rules you are punished according to what the father sees fit for what you've done wrong. If you go to a court of law, the judge won't care if you've cleaned your room or not, he cares if you obeyed the laws of the land and he considers you guilty or innocent according to the laws of the land and not to the rules in you father's house.
If you dishonor your father, he doesn't care how good of a citizen you are and how well you've kept all the laws of your country, he will punish you to correct your character, even though you didn't break any law.
If Adonai relates to you only as a citizen of a country that either keeps the law or breaks it, then you will answer to Him only according to His Law. But if Adonai is your Father (which can only be obtain through Yeshua) then He'll have other expectations from you, greater than only keeping the Law. Keeping the Law is easy compared to being a good son, because the punishment for a son is greater for it is not only according to the Law of the Kingdom, but according to the rules in His house. By punishment I do not mean sickness or curses that come as a result of sin. Punishment of the Father is not for breaking His Law (which is sin) but for things that I need to correct in my character in order to honor my Father's Name.
So if I get it that He holds back certain things from me so that I learn to be better, then I must endure being 'disciplined' as a daughter, knowing that I am not punished for breaking any law but because I need correction to be able to represent Him better, and even if that is grievous for now, it will bring forth a good fruit in time.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Broken vessels

Yeshua answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." - Luke 5:31-32
I use to believe that in order to be able to follow Yeshua, one must be a tzadik (righteous) , to stand firm facing death and not be scared, one that is fighting his fears and his shortcomings and no temptation overcomes him, you know...like a super man.
I remember my first lie ... it was then that I understood that I am deeply flawded, that I am not some holy angel but dirty clay that forms this vessel which in time I got to break in every possible way. Now I look more like a piece of pottery from ancient times, not because I'm ancient but because my cracks and cuts are deep.
I've reduced myself to broken pieces, chips and cracks from something that use to be once. Who would ever want that? To do what with these pieces? If someone wants to use a vessel, they use one that is in good condition, and if the one that use to be in a good condition breaks, then they go and buy a new one, but no one... NO ONE starts to glue back together the pieces from a broken vessel, and even if someone would, they would always be aware not to use it too much because it can't hold that well anymore for it use to be broken once. That's what a normal person would think, because that makes sense and that is logical. Anyone would think like that but not Adonai. Normality has nothing to do with Adonai, sense has nothing to do with Adonai and logic even less than that.
He seems to be searching for the most broken vessel and the most impossible one to put together, the cheapest one that no one would even bother to look at, and when He finds it He calls all heaven to come and see His 'project'. I think malachim (angels) look at Him and they're in shock. 'Elohim, we know You can do all things, we've seen You creating the world out of nothing, and if this man that you try to repair would be nothing he would stand more chances than what it is right now. Look at him>HE'S ALL BROKEN!'
But Adonai smiles and starts picking up every little piece and every speck of dust that use to form a whole man once. He washes every piece and while He cleans it he visualizes where each piece should go. He's taking His time. He's really into His work. He first glues together the big parts and the man starts to shape a form ...but that's the easy part. He has to glue in together even pieces that not even angels are able to see that are missing. He knows exactly how this person needs to look like because He knows how He made him in the first place. He doesn't give up until He finishes what He started. Then He takes the vessel and fills it up with Water and the malachim (angels) scream 'no, don't fill it all the way up, it won't hold!', but Adonai smiles and tells them every time the same thing 'it can hold because it's strength doesn't come from itself but from the ONE carrying it and repairing it'.
You're never amazed when you see a perfectly good vessel that holds up water withing itself without breaking or without spilling the water through it's cracks, but you can't help but be amazed when you see a broken vessel, that is so broken you have no idea what's holding it, but it doesn't break nor does it spill water through it's cracks. When you see such a vessel you want to praise the one that glued together it's pieces.
I don't want to sound like Paul and proclaim myself 'the chief of sinners' but I'm not that far off either. Adonai had to work a looooooooooooooooot to repair me and then pour WATER in me. I still break sometimes. I don't do it often, but when I do break I break in such a way that no human can endure the sight of me...But Adonai doesn't go away, He's not scared or impressed by my words nor by my rebellion when I yell 'but it's not fair!'... He waits until I finish breaking and then He comes and puts me back together. Sometimes it makes no sense why He does it, other times I ask Him while He glues me together 'why don't You give up?' He smiles 'the sick need a physician, the sinners need righteousness, and ruins need a Builder'

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Mechitza

For he is our shalom, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of mitzvot contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making shalom; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby. He came and preached shalom to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. - Ephesians 2:14-18
Jews have this 'wall of partition' called Mechitza. If you go to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, you'll see there is a drape or a wall separating the men from the women> that is mechitza. If you go to an Orthodox Jewish concert you'll find a mechitza again that will separate women from men. If you go to Ha Kotel (The western wall) you'll find a mechitza that separates men from women. When there was a Beit haMikdash (Temple) there was a mechitza that separated men from women and then another mechitza that separated Jews from goyim (non Jews).
When Paul is talking about the middle wall of partition he is referring to the mechitza that was in the Beit HaMikdash.
Yeshua came to brake down the mechitza that separated men from women and Jews from goyim, He didn't come to break down the mechitza that separates us from sin, because He made that one even stronger. Yeshua didn't come to break down the limits within we must stay in order to be holy, He just broke down the mechitza within the Beit HaMikdash that made a difference between men and women and between Jews and goyim. That's why it's written in Galatians 3:28 'There is neither Yehudi nor Yevanit (Greek), there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Massiach Yeshua. '
Mechitza that was taken away is now allowing the goyim to be together with the Jews and worship the same God, but it doesn't mean in any way assimilation of the Jews. It was grace that goyim were allowed in the same place as Jews but somehow goyim got it into their head that they were allowed in the place where only Jews were allowed to take away the Jewishness of the Jews. That is wrong on every level. Taking away the mechitza was meant to give freedom to those that had no freedom to come close to a place that they didn't have access before, not to go in there and kick out the Jews and 'decorate' the holy places as if they always belonged to the goyim. Goyim were allowed in to give up the worshiping of their gods and worship the God of Israel, they were allowed in the holy place to worship, not to change the ways of the Jews that were already in there to which Adonai gave these things to be an eternal law (Ex 12:17, Ex 27:21, Ex 29:9, Lev 3:17, Lev 16:29, etc.).

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

The death of Yeshua - Murder or Self sacrifice?

Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this mitzvah (commandment) from my Father."- Yochanan/ John 10:17-18

I know that many like to justify their antisemitism by the expired excuse "Jews killed Jesus''.
Yeshua wasn't a victim of anyone, not of the Jews nor of the Romans, that actually killed Him. How could God be killed against His will?
Both Jews and Christians alike killed many righteous people, and if Yeshua's death was just one of the many innocent people that were killed, it would be horrible indeed, but it would have no power to redeem anyone or anything. Christians make Yeshua seem like this really frail blond guy with blue eyes, almost sickly, that was abused by the mean Jews and killed by the even meaner Romans. He was a victim of bad people and if the mean Jews wouldn't have killed the poor Jesus they portray, He would have lived a long long life. GIVE ME A BREAK!
Yeshua was in full control of everything. He came on earth for the only reason of dying and redeeming the world of it's sin. He sacrificed His own life for the sake of the world. Do you know what self sacrifice means?
The giving up of personal wants and needs, either from a sense of duty or in order to benefit others.
The giving up is not a forceful action. No one could take His life away unless He gave it. He gave up His life in order to give life to everyone that believes in Him!
If Yeshua was murdered by the Jews, then the Jews have paid under that excuse that in full (and for that I suggest you research the Holocaust), so God has nothing to demand from them, for they have payed their debt. But if Yeshua, being God and not the victim of a scattered people under Roman ocuppation, gave up His own life, as a sacrifice to save the world from sin (first the Jews then the goyim) then the responsibility for His death comes to everyone that sinned, for it was our sins that took Him to the cross, not the Jews.

I don't believe in a sickly Christ that was pushed around by the mean Jews and then murdered by them. I believe in Yeshua that came on earth to die for my sin and it was my sin that killed Him. I believe in Yeshua that was God and that death couldn't hold Him (let alone a weak nation) and that He resurrected and gave life to everyone that believed in Him, first to the Jews and then to the gentiles. I don't believe in a victim of the Jewish people, I believe the the Lamb of God, a pure Lamb, whose only purpose was to come and die for me, so that I may live for Him. That is my Mashiach. That is my Rabbi. That is my God.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

fish live in the water

In the Talmud there is a Moshel (parable) told by Rabbi Akiva, while the Roman Empire decreed that all the Rabbis that were teaching Torah, would be killed. Rabbi Akiva was teaching the Torah in public places without the fear of being killed. A Jew saw Akiva doing this and asked him 'Rabbi, aren't you scared that the Romans will catch you and kill you? Then what would you have gained from standing up against the Empire and didn't give up your faith?' Rabbi Akiva answers the man with this Moshel:

There was a fox walking on the shore of a river. While walking she sees all the fish swimming scared and as fast as they could. The fox asks them 'what are you running from?' the fish answer 'we run away from the nets they set to trap us'. The fox looks at them amused and says 'stop swimming away. Just jump from the water on the ground because there are no nets here' The fish answer 'you should be wiser than us for you are greater. If we are in danger in our own environment where we can swim and breath, how much more will we be in danger in an environment that is not our natural habitat?'

Rabbi Akiva goes on to say...'if we, the Jews, are in danger in our own environment which is Torah, how much more will we be in danger if we give up Torah?'

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

just wheat

There is a Moshel (parable) about a man that use to live in a village up in the mountains, isolated from the rest of the world. This village was really blessed with a lot of wheat, but people use to eat the wheat just as it was on the field because they didn't know how to prepare it. The man that lived in this village is forced by circumstances to go to a different village, and when he gets there he sees the people eating bread. He doesn't know what bread is so he asks one of the villagers 'what is this?' the villager answered 'well, it's bread, don't you know what bread is?' the man answers 'no', so the villagers gives him a piece of bread to taste it. The man is amazed ' this tastes really good, what is it made of?' The villager answers 'from wheat, mixed with water, and salt and yeast, then it's cooked in the oven.' The man is in shock. Then he is offered a piece of cake and when he hears that again the main ingredient is wheat he shouts with joy 'surely I am the master of all these for I have the main ingredient which is wheat'.

Some people know the basics of the Scriptures, or only the main ingredient and they feel superior to all the rest that 'break their heads' to know more and always their reply is I KNOW ALL I NEED TO KNOW. From time to time they taste the thoughts of people that do break their heads about the Word of Adonai, and they feel great and they even say that it tastes good, but because what they hear have in essence the same basic truth they know, they feel like they are the masters of Scriptures for they know that 'Jesus loves me, yes, I know, for the Bible tells me so' . They feel that they can go on forever eating rough wheat and never bother to make flour out of wheat and to prepare it and make bread and if anyone comes along and challenges them to do more, they are bothered beyond repair.
Yeshua said I am the bread of life, not the wheat of life. Bread doesn't grow on the field, bread is prepared by people. To have Yeshua is not enough to pray the prayer of salvation (whatever that is) but it means to live a life according to His will.
The man in this Moshel wouldn't have died if he continued his whole life to eat wheat, he could have lived his entire life healthy but never enjoying more than that. People that don't search to know more won't burn in hell, but their existence is without any real joy, and by joy I so don't mean the fake smile and the happy clappy Christians that pretend so much that they even pretend that they don't know they pretend their Christianity.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

How many prayers do I need to pray?

So Ach'av went up to eat and to drink. Eliyah went up to the top of Karmel; and he bowed himself down on the eretz, and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. He went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. He said, Go again seven times. It happened at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there arises a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. He said, Go up, tell Ach'av, Make ready [your chariot], and get you down, that the rain not stop you. - Melachim Alef/ 1 Kings 18:42-44

Rabbi Nachman of Uman, use to say that you don't receive the things you want for only two reasons, either you haven't prayed, either you haven't prayed enough.
Elyahu (Elijah) went to pray before Adonai for rain. There was a drought in the land for 3 years now, so he goes up to mount Karmel, sits down with his face between his knees and starts praying. He prays once...nothing. He prays again. It was starting to be a bit awkward for his servant to come back every time and tell him 'there is nothing'. But Elyahu's heart was set to pray as many times as he needed until he got an answer.
Maybe I need to pray my soul out 7 times until I get an answer, and maybe I need to pray my soul out once, or maybe I need to do it for years, but I need to pray as many times as I need to until I get my answer.
It's not easy to get off your knees and hear 'there's nothing' and maybe you get this answer years in a row, but be sure that one day the answer will be 'Behold, there arises a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's hand'. When you receive that answer don't stay there and wait for the whole sky to get cloudy, because all it takes is a small cloud to believe for a storm!
Elyahu sends his servant to tell Ach'av to go so that the rain won't stop him. He had a small cloud on the sky and he was so sure that that little cloud will bring a heavy rain that send his servant to tell the king to run so that the rain won't stop him! Can you imagine Ach'av's face? Probably thought Elyahu was insane. But all it took was a little cloud, not bigger than a man's hand, for Elyahu to believe for the storm. But to have that kind of faith you need to know the One you pray to, You need to know that what He starts, He will finish. You need to know His heart in order to believe that a little cloud is not just a cloud. In Adonai's world, nothing is what it seems to be.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

seriously?

I read somewhere that there are more people in the world dying of obesity than people that die from starvation.
We are so weird... Rather than sharing our food with others we eat until we become obese and then we want others to feel sorry for us because we turned into monsters that can't be moved even with a truck. I try to feel sorry, but somehow I fail. I can only conclude that obesity is the result of selfishness.
We reverse God's principles and we mistake greed with blessing, forgetting that you've been blessed to bless others.

We care more about pets than for humans. We are concerned with 'world peace' and we forget to have peace in our homes, we are more scared of financial crisis than we fear The One that provides for us... Adonai have mercy!


Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Greatness Unlimited

To some, G-d is great because He makes the wind blow. For others, it is how He projects an entire cosmos, space and time, matter and energy out of the void. The intellectuals laugh and say He is far beyond any of this, for His Oneness transcends all things and remains unaltered even by the event of Creation.
We Jews, what we have always said, is that G-d is so great He stoops down to listen to the prayer of a small child. He paints the petals of each wildflower and awaits us there to catch Him doing so. He plays with the rules of the world He has made to comfort the oppressed and support those who champion justice and goodness.
He transcends the bounds of higher and lower. He transcends all bounds.

Tzvi Freeman

Yeshua ben David - Yeshua son of David

In Judaism, to be someone's son it doesn't necessarily mean to have the same DNA as the father, but it also means to have the same spiritual DNA, meaning to have the same way of thinking, of acting and of interpreting Torah. When Paul called Timothy his son, it doesn't mean Timothy was his son, but that Timothy was of the same spiritual DNA as Paul. Yeshua said "if you were Avraham's children, you would do Avraham's deeds", meaning to call yourself the son of someone implies to do the same deeds as the person you call 'father'.
All through the New Covenant, Yeshua is called 'Son of David' (Mathew 15:22, Mat. 20:31, etc), and that doesn't just mean He was from the davidic lineage, which He was, but it also means He had many characteristics as David.
There are many similarities between the two of them and I won't focus on all, but only on a few.
1. None of them had the right apparence to be Mashiach (Anointed). David was the last person Samuel would have picked to be anointed king and it's written about Yeshua 'when we saw him, there was no beauty that we should desire him.' Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 53:2b
2. They both had to leave Israel temporary and live among goyim (gentiles).
David had to leave Israel because Saul was chasing him, so he went in the land of the Philistines, and served king Akhish. (1 Samuel 27). While he was there he pretended he has nothing to do with Israel anymore and Akhish believed him as it's written in 1 Samuel 27:12 'Akhish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.'
Goyim think the same about Yeshua, because they don't know The God of Israel, just like Akish didn't know David.
When David ran to Akish, Saul stopped chasing him and in the same way Jews have stopped searching for Yeshua because they know He's in the land of goyim.
Akish wanted David because he saw David was strong so he named David his keeper forever (1 Samuel 28:2).

Goyim act as if Yeshua is at their disposal, working for them, that they can make Yeshua do whatever they want just because temporary He is giving them grace.
Akish wanted to go to war against Israel so he summons David to come and protect him. -- Don't start a war against Israel and expect Yeshua to come and protect you.
David doesn't answer 'I won't go' but as a true Jew, he answers 'you shall see what your servant will do'. David went with his men but they "passed on in the rearward with Akhish' and when the Philistines see them they start yelling "What are these Hebrews doing here?"(1 Sam. 29:2) and they ask Akish to send the Jews back.

Goyim can't accept a Jewish Jesus. If somehow they see such a Jesus they make sure to send Him 'home' and they would rather believe that Yeshua is a Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes that was walking through Israel because He planned to let Himself be killed by Jews so He could blame them forever for it, and nothing else.
David couldn't fight against Israel although he couldn't live in Israel for that time, and Yeshua being ben David, meaning the Son of David, would never be against His own people, even though He is more known to the goyim, but doesn't mean He belongs in the lands of goyim, that's why when He'll return he won't live in Washington, nor London, nor Paris, nor Tokyo, but He will live in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).

Not long after being sent back home, David returned to his home and became king over all Israel, bringing Aaron HaBrit (Ark of the Covenant) to Yerushalayim, ark that represented the Shekinah (glory) of Adonai.
It won't be long and Yeshua will return to His people Israel, He will return to Yerushalayim and He will bring HaShekinah there where it belongs. With Israel. And from there the whole earth will know that Adonai is One, His Name is One and He calls Himself The King of the Jews, The King of Israel.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

About me

I don't know yet if life is wonderful or life just is. I haven't got to know anything extraordinary, but here's what I know:

I haven't been through pains greater than others and I haven't been rejoicing more than others have. I haven't run nor walked more than others. I cried a lot, but I am sure there are people that cry more than I. I laughed a lot, but I am sure there are people that laugh more than I, so there is nothing special about my tears or my laughter.
I am not tall nor short, I am not a genius but I am not retarded either, I am not pretty nor ugly. I think I could continue for days about how ordinary I am through everything that I appear to be.
But although I haven't made any scientific discovery that would make me more special than others, I found out in all my 28 years on this earth what it's like to live LIFE, what it's like to die and what it feels like to be resurrected.
Although I haven't shook hands with any president nor did I ever meet anyone famous, I shook hands with many, many smiling old people. I've seen the sea only once in my life, but I've seen many mountains. I've been through situations that I could never believe one can experience and still live, but now, when I look back and I know that all those situations that left me with deep scars have turned me in to who I am today. I've lived 19 years without HaShem and it has been too long. I've loved Israel since I didn't know how to love anything else, but that doesn't make me special either, because maybe there are people that love it more (only maybe).
I am not the one that discovered that the earth is round, but I did discover it was made for me. I haven't discovered any of the physics laws, but I did discover on my own that although the gravity can pull a falling object towards it's mass, if the falling object is me, then I can get back up. I am not special in any way, and maybe I don't have the greatest life in history, but I will do everything in my power to live great. I will live as if the Earth revolves around me, because I know that the One that made it revolves around me and even though scientists haven't found out that yet, they still have time.




IM Flash Smiley

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Humility

Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.

Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz