Goal:

 

What I intend to address in my message today is something that I believe is crucial for our (1) making it into the Kingdom of Yah; (2) successfully walking out our Faith in Spirit and in Truth; and (3) living the life abundant that Yeshua our Master taught and preached about.

 

And what is this crucial thing I’m talking about?

 

We’re going to be talking about overcoming the obstacles to our Faith—obstacles to our belief.

 

Now I recognize that I’m somewhat in the minority here as it relates to my understanding of belief: For I contend, as I stated in my previous message on belief, that biblical belief and biblical faith are essentially the same thing. The ancients did not make a real distinction between the two.

 

But the only reason I’m bringing this up here in this message is because I will throughout this message use the terms faith and belief interchangeably.

 

And pretty much the level of belief or faith I’m going to be talking about today is the Kingdom entering level of belief: The level of belief/faith that the “Heroes of Faith” possessed. That level of faith or belief that gets Abba’s attention and that puts you into the “friend” zone with the Creator of the Universe; that level of belief of faith that gets you into the Kingdom.

 

Speaking of the Heroes of Faith, before I get into the message, I want to ask you a set of questions regarding your level of faith or belief. And when you receive these questions, I need for you to think about your answers to these questions in as honest and truthful way as you possibly can, because how you answer these questions will determine how much you’ll get out of the messages here today and next time.

 

And my question are as follows:

 

• Do you believe YHVH to the degree/level that Abraham, Moses, Joshua and the other heroes of faith believed YHVH?
• If so, how did you arrive at their level of believing YHVH? How did you overcome your unbelief? How do you maintain that supreme level of belief-trust-faith?
• If no, why are you not at their level of believing-trusting YHVH? What is keeping you from reaching heroes of faith-belief status? Is reaching their level of belief-faith important enough to move you to take action to get to their level of belief?

 

Attention:

 

Now I’m asking these questions with the big assumption that most of us do not believe or trust YHVH at the heroes of faith level—Kingdom level belief–or let’s say, at the level that YHVH needs us to be at.

 

And I’m sure that a great many folks within and without our Faith would reject these questions because the Church Triumphant has indoctrinated millions of folks that they are guaranteed entry into heaven or the kingdom simply by virtue of having simple, basic belief IN Jesus Christ; believing the God the Father exists; saying the sinners prayer; getting dunked in water; getting your name on the church rolls; and maybe giving an offering from time to time. This level of belief-trusting-faith is a level that man-the Church-the denominations have established for their members.

 

But what about the level of belief-trust-faith that Father has established for His elect? Shouldn’t we be striving to get to that level?

 

Folks, the Church-the denominations-the preachers and teachers-the Nicholaitan system that is behind much of organized religion today, really don’t care whether you get into the Kingdom or not or if you are living the life abundant that Master Yeshua taught and preached about. These care only about the system; the organization that they operate under. These organizations are in fact a religion unto themselves. So these organizations are requiring you and me to belief and trust in them—in their organizations—in their systems. Period. They’re not interested in you believing YHVH. In most cases, they don’t really want you to believe YHVH at the Kingdom level. Because they know that if you believe YHVH at the Kingdom level, then you wouldn’t need them. So their ministries teach and preach doctrines that are designed to keep you at a set level of belief-trust-faith; just enough to keep you coming back each week and dropping some coins into their offering plates.

 

This my friends is not the level or even type of belief Father needs from His people. For He, in His Word, has established the level of believing and trusting Him that He requires of His chosen ones. And any level of Faith that falls below Father’s established level displeases Him. What did the writer of Hebrew say regarding this:

 

“Without Faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to YHVH must believe that He is and that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

I submit to you here today that the reason most of us fall short in our level of belief and trust and faith is because life—human life and existence—comes with a whole lot of baggage that I like to refer to as “obstacles to belief or faith.”

 

You see, as far as scripture is concerned, the thing that distinguishes one believer from another believer is whether he or she simply believes IN the things of Yah or whether he/she believes-trust the things of Yah. Don’t be fooled, these are two entirely distinct—different levels of belief that have salvific weight attached to them and we all need to know and respond appropriately to the difference between them.

 

One’s belief IN Yah can be altered/shaken/shifted by various sets of life circumstances. When you believe in something you are investing in a concept or idea that seems good to you at the time you’re deciding to believe in the things of Yah. But that belief in YHVH can be changed if needed: It can be changed to suit us; it can be changed to fit into our preferred way of life. Belief in Yah leaves a lot a room for doubt and even disobedience?

 

Why would I say such a thing?

 

Because belief IN Yah is nothing more than a simple acknowledgment that Yah exists and that he may be able to do some of the things He says in His Word that He will and can do.

 

But the problem with simply believing IN Yah is that it doesn’t take much for that belief to go bye-bye.

 

 

I don’t think anyone here on this line today would doubt that all of the people that left Egypt in the Exodus believed in YHVH. Why wouldn’t they: They saw for themselves one wonder/miracle after another transpire before them—things that we’ve not seen repeated to very day. Yet, these same folks that witnessed and experienced the greatest miracles any generation of humans have ever witnessed and experienced had no problem doubting

 

 

These could not take that critical next step of believing YHVH. And why couldn’t they take that next step? Because they could not and would not overcome the obstacles that existed in their lives that prevented them believing Yah.

 

 

You see, believing Yah is drastically different than believing IN Yah. Believing IN Yah gets you very little if anything at all. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that simply believing IN Yah causes more harm than good. Why? Because when you believe in Yah you are only partially invested in the things of Yah—you’re only going through the motions related to the things of Faith. Think I’m lying or making a big to do about nothing? Well, riddle me this Batman: What did the generation that came out of Egypt get out of their leaving Egypt? They got death—they died in the wilderness. Why did they die in the wilderness: Because they accepted the terms of the marriage covenant which YHVH made with them; and that marriage covenant required them to believe Him—to Trust Him:

 

“Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation….And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which YHVH commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, ‘All that YHVH hath spoken we will do…’” (Exodus 19:5-8).

 

It was right after the spies returned from spying out the Land of Canaan and preached a message of hopelessness and not believing Yah to the people while just Caleb and Yashua preached a message of hope and believing Yah, that the people rebelled one too many times against Yah and Moshe. Yah, in seeing the people rebelling against Him and His man Moshe, purposed in His heart to disinherit and destroy the people (Numbers 14:20) that Moshe stood in the gap and pleaded with Yah to spare the lives of the people. And Yah relents, but still passes righteous judgment against the people:

 

“And YHVH’s anger was kindled the same time and He sware, saying, ‘Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from 20-years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed YHVH. And YHVH’s anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness 40-years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of YHVH was consumed” (Numbers 32:10-13).

 

As we can see, all of Israel perished in the wilderness—including Moshe—with the exception of Yahshua and Caleb. Why? Because the nation chose not to believe Yah. Choosing to not believe Yah will prevent you from entering the Kingdom as we see in the example of the wandering Israelites. Choosing to not believe Yah only leads to an unfulfilled life and ultimately death.

 

 

And folks, we’re all facing the same miserable end that the ancient Israelites faced if we fail to believe Yah. If the example of the ancient Israelites wandering in the wilderness is to be any example to us, it’s safe to say that the overwhelming majority of people in this world will not enter the Kingdom of Yah. Just a small, precious remnant who have chosen to believe Yah.

 

It was as Yeshua was making His way to Jerusalem to be crucified that He asks the Pharisees who had gathered to challenge Him on when the Kingdom of Yah would come, that Master asked a rather rhetorical question:

 

“…will the Son of Man find any real faith remaining on the earth when He comes” (Luke 18:8)?

 

And of course we know the answer to that rhetorical question is “very little?”

 

 

 Need:

 

We all stand to repeat the same tragic mistakes the ancient Israelites made and that is failing, and in many respects, refusing to believe Yah.

 

You know, Father intends that the lives of the ancients as recorded in scripture, serve as an ensample and warning to us so that we may avoid death and destruction that comes as a result of refusing to believe Yah (2 Peter 2:6).

 

Now, we know that it is impossible to make it into the Kingdom without true, biblical belief or faith:

 

“Without Faith (”pisteo” = belief) it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to Yah must believe (”pisteuo” = trust; believe) that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

So, it should be commonsense to all of us that if Yah is not pleased with us, we ain’t getting into the Kingdom. And we know from Hebrews 11:6 that the only way to please Yah is to believe Him (not believe in Him, but believe Him). And that life of belief leads to rewards: folks, not just in the world tomorrow, but also in the here and now.

 

Master was quite clear in His parable teaching that He had come in order that we may have abundant life (John 10:10). Unfortunately, many in our Faith believe that abundant life is coming to Yah’s elect once they get into the Kingdom. Until that time, however, Yah’s elect must endure suffering.

 

But we must look at this passage within the context in which it was given. Yeshua was using the life example of shepherding in order to illustrate the principle that He was the only way to the Father as He was the “door of the sheepfold.” And the only path to true, abundant life. Those that propose a different path other than the path that Yeshua has laid out for us, are thieves and robbers—they are as wolves come to harm the flock. And it is a well-known truth that thieves come to steal, kill and destroy.

 

The life that Yeshua came to bring us is a lifestyle (as we’ve mentioned countless times on this platform) that is supposed to be filled with “joy and peace in believing” such that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may walk out this faith with overflowing hope (Romans 15:13).

 

 

Satisfaction of the need:

 

So the abundant life begins the moment we choose to place our trust in YHVH. We don’t have to wait till that great getting up morning before we can have an amazing life that Master promised. Folks, an amazing life can be had by all of in the here and now: if we indeed want that life.

 

As I mentioned several messages ago: The Kingdom of Yah is not just the coming, physical Kingdom that all will see when Yeshua returns. The Kingdom of Yah is a continuous strain of reality that begins with the Kingdom of Yah dwelling within us the moment we choose to believe Yah. And that Kingdom of Yah expands within our lives and it progresses up to and into the physical Kingdom of Yah that Yeshua will install in Jerusalem and throughout the earth upon His return (Luke 17:21).

 

Looking back to the ancient Israelites, Father instructed the people to walk in all His ways so that things would go well with them and thereby live prolong days in the promised land (Deuteronomy 5:33).

 

You see, believing Yah leads to an abundant and meaningful life. But many of us cannot bring ourselves to believing Yah for a great many reasons.

 

 Visualization:

 

I suggest that the story of the ancient Israelites provides us numerous example of obstacles that caused the people to not believe Yah and that also prevented them from entering the promised land.

 

If we identify some of those obstacles that prevented the ancient Israelites from believing Yah, and we then identify similar obstacles in our lives today that stand way of our believing Yah, we may then be able to identify ways to overcome those obstacles, believe Yah, and start living the life Father has always intended for us to have.

 

I’ve identified 6 obstacles blocked or impeded or stood in the way of Israel believing Yah. This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive list of obstacles. I’m certain you’ll be able to identify several more obstacles on your own. But these obstacles are just a small handful of the more obvious ones that many of us today are contending with in our Faith walks.

 

Today I’m only going to cover 2 of those obstacles and when I return in a few weeks, I’ll cover the remaining 4 obstacles.

 

So let’s look at obstacle 1:

 

Obstacle #1. They did not have the desire to believe Yah. (The beginning). Father described the Israelites as a stiffnecked people (Exodus 32:9; 33:3; 33:5; 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13; 10:16). “Stiffnecked” is qahsheh which means to be “obstinate.” To be obstinate means to be stubborn. And in being stubborn, one refuses to give in to a proper course or way of doing things. In this case, we’re talking about refusing to trust Yah; refusing to believe Yah and His Word; refusing to obey Yah and His servant Moshe.

 

Being stubbornness is in many ways being rebellious. And we know from Torah that stubbornness and rebellion can get you killed:

 

¹⁸ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

¹⁹ Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

²⁰ And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. (Deu 21:18-21 KJV)

 

 

Verse 21 tells us that stubbornness and rebellion is evil  which means it’s a sin. And Yah’s way of dealing with this sin and evil is to kill the stubborn and rebellious soul.

 

A stubborn and rebellious nature creates for the would-be Child of Yah (I believe) an impenetrable obstacle believing Yah. Why? There are a number of reasons. The one that comes to mind above the rest is that rebellion and stubbornness stands in the way of anyone having a true and substantive relationship with the Almighty. Why? Because stubbornness and rebellion within a person says to the Almighty and to the world that things are going to my way, NOT Yah’s Way. And I’m here to tell you: Yah don’t play that. Lucifier tried that  and look where it got him:

 

¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

¹⁵ Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isa 14:12-15 KJV)

 

Rebellion and stubbornness is straight up “humanism.” What is humanism? Let me read the definition to you:

 

“Humanism is an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings (remember Yeshua said that no one is good except Yah alone), emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems” (Microsoft Dictionary).

 

In other words, “humanism” is a fancy word for “it’s all about me…it’s about what I want…we’re going to do things my way and God is going to have to be okay with that. But I’m here to tell you folks, YHVH is NOT okay with stubbornness and rebellion; He’s not okay with “humanism.”

 

 

Stubbornness and rebellion is all about the “me.” The “I will” of Lucifer. There is NO room for Father, therefore there’s no believing Yah. Oh, there’s room for believing IN Yah as we saw demonstrated by the ancient Israelites, but there’s NO believing Yah.

 

The only remedy or solution to stubbornness and rebellion is “death?” What do you mean Rod by the only remedy or solution to stubbornness and rebellion is death? As we saw in  Deuteronomy 21, rebellion and stubbornness is evil that requires the death of the offender. But fortunate for us today, the death that I’m talking about will open the door to believing Yah. And that death is a death to self and that death must be on a daily basis.

 

The opposite of stubbornness is open-mindedness, reasonability, acceptance and receptive and the opposite of rebellion is obedience, peace and alliance. All of which is the basis of one dying to self.

 

While traveling to Caesarea Philippi, Master Yeshua in a down to earth, in your face manner described what it meant to die to self to His disciples:

 

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

²⁴ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

²⁵ For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luk 9:23-25 KJV)

 

 

Dying to self takes courage, strength and character. Dying to self is not something the average person is willing to do.

 

Dying to self is saying to Father as our Master said to His Father:

 

“…Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42).

 

Dying to self is a progressive, evolutionary process that is deeply connected to and drives our Way of Life. It’s determining within ourselves that we’re going to do things Yah’s Way. It’s being 21st century Joshua’s such that when someone in your life challenges you for keeping Yah’s Ways and they threaten to disown or disavow you or something worse, that you can stand firm and state without flinching:

 

“If it seem evil unto you to serve YHVH, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve YHVH” (Joshua 24:15).

 

For some, dying to self may seem an impossible task. But Yah recognizes the stubbornness in each of us. And He is willing to make a deal with us: If we are willing to meet Him at least part of the way, Father will make up the rest of the way. What do I mean by this: Well, Master taught about this very thing as He taught His disciples about the Kingdom of Yah from the Temple Mount just before His crucifixion:

 

 ²⁰ And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

²¹ His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

²² He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

²³ His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Mat 25:20-23 KJV)

 

So for some, dying to self may start off with something simple as not working on the Sabbath or eating clean foods. And then over time, that giving over to the Will and Ways of Yah, which is essentially dying to the old self and walking in the newness of life, the dying to self will take on even greater things such as toppling strongholds in our lives such as eliminating bad habits; exchanging a nasty, selfish disposition for a loving and caring disposition; stop gossiping; tithing and giving offering; etc.

 

The dying to self process is NOT a give and take agreement between us and YHVH, such that we give Yah this area of our lives but we think we can bargain with Him and keep other areas of our lives. No. This is an all or nothing at all proposition. Again, it’s starting off with baby steps, which will ultimately lead to our full surrender: mind-body-soul—to YHVH. This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote about becoming a new man/new woman:

 

 ²³ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

²⁴ And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

²⁵ Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

²⁶ Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

²⁷ Neither give place to the devil.

²⁸ Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

²⁹ Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

³⁰ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

³² And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Eph 4:23-5:1 KJV)

 

And once we can get past our stubbornness and rebellion, believing Yah is within our grasp.

 

Obstacle #2: They couldn’t nor wouldn’t shake the Babylon that was inside them.

 

Part of the reason the Children of Israel were so stubborn and rebellious was because they could not nor would not shake Egypt out of their system. Despite being freed from bitter slavery by hand of the Almighty, the people kept looking back and desiring their former lives back in Egypt.

 

⁵ We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

⁶ But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. (Num 11:5-6 KJV)

 

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (Exo 16:3 KJV)

 

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

 ² And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

³ And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

⁴ And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

⁵ And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

⁶ And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

⁷ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (Exo 32:1-8 KJV)

 

Now there’s a lot to unpack here. But what we see clearly demonstrated in just these 3-passages is that the Children of Israel had no thought—no desire to shake Egypt out of their system. What Israel was experiencing throughout their wilderness journey was like a bad breakup : they knew that the Egyptian slavery they endured for 400-years was not a good thing for them; they wanted a better life for themselves; they were being offered a better life by YHVH, but when that better life was given to them and that better life had somewhat of a challenging transition attached to it, they immediately looked back to Egypt. You see, despite Egypt being a bad situation for them, they had grown accustomed to it. Their lives had become quite settled in Egypt. And because the Israelites had become familiar and comfortable with Egypt, despite the hardships they endured there, they reasoned within themselves that the hardship was worth it. In fact, the Egyptian hardship was better than the temporary hardships they were enduring in their travels and transition to the promised land.

 

Biblically speaking, Egypt along with Babylon represents hasatan’s and man’s way of life—the world system.  Consequently, hasatan was the creator or author of the world system that came out of Egypt and Babylon and that world system opposes YHVH and His Way of life. In addition, both Egypt and Babylon enslaved the Children of Israel a couple of times in Israel’s history. And in both cases, the Children of Israel grew comfortable with their overlords’ way of life. And when they would be delivered or freed by the hand of YHVH, the people would bring Egypt and Babylon with them.

 

Now, Egypt and Babylon are often viewed by biblical writers as one and the same nation. But it’s not that Egypt and Babylon are the same nation, because they are actually two separate nations in human history. However, Egypt and Babylon are treated as identical in scripture because we get from these nations this huge, dominating world system that has persisted from biblical days to our present day.

 

The anti-Yah system that has emerged from Babylon and Egypt controls all areas of human existence:

 

• Arts and Entertainment
• Science
• Commerce
• Politics
• Education
• Religion/Faith

 

And this world system that controls all these areas of human life seeks to overthrow Yah, Yah’s Way of Life, and Yah’s Elect. Thus hasatan’s way of life which is the Babylon—the world system—in controlling all these critical areas of human life, effectively enslaves people, just like ancient Egypt and ancient Babylon did back in the day. The Babylonian system is deceptive and blasphemous. It leads people to live lives of sin and reject the abundant life that Yeshua Messiah mentioned in His teachings.

 

In principle, one could safely say that there are two  systems or ways of life in this world: Yah’s Way of Life and the Babylonian Way of Life. The Babylonian Way of life leads to death, while Yah’s way of life leads to life eternal and abundant. Yes, the Babylonian Way of life is enticing and it appeals to the carnal nature of man. It’s very difficult to shake because we humans find it virtually impossible to live outside this flesh. Everything we humans do in this life is meant to satisfy the flesh. Well, Yah’s way of life appeals primarily to the spirit part of humans. Unfortunately, as I just said, humans resist the spiritual—those things that appeal to righteousness; peace; love; prosperity; truth; holiness; etc. The spiritual things make no sense to the dense minds and hearts of people as the Apostle Paul wrote:

 

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Yah: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of YHVH, that  he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Messiah” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

 

One of the big reasons the Children of Israel did not believe Yah was because they still carried Egypt—Babylon–within them. Egypt controlled their thoughts, hearts  and dreams: it wasn’t the hope and dream of reaching the land of promise that drove the Children of Israel; it wasn’t the many miracles and deliverance on eagles wings that put a pep in Israel’s step; it was their memories and longings of their time in Egypt that controlled virtually every area of their lives. And when you have something from the past that has such a tight grip on you that it controls most of the things you do, then there’s no room Yah in your life. You have no need to believe Yah when you  have Egypt living within you. In fact, Yah will not share space with Babylon/Egypt. He just won’t. Either Egypt/Babylon has to leave, or Yah will leave.

 

What did we see happen with the Temple in Ezekiel’s vision? After Father showed the prophet Ezekiel the abominations that were happening in His House—the Temple—He did the unthinkable:

 

¹⁸ Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

¹⁹ And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

(Eze 10:18-19 KJV)

 

Folks, if Babylon lives in us, believing Yah is going to be nearly impossible to achieve. Because Babylon is flesh-centered, our flesh is always going to get in the way of our belief. You see, when it comes time for you to decide who or what to obey, are you going to to obey Yah or are you going to obey your flesh.

 

Like obstacle 1, getting Babylon out of us as Yah’s elect takes a lot of courage and determination; prayer; discipline; etc. It’s not something that most people can successfully accomplish. For Babylon, as Egypt was with ancient Israel, is ingrained in the lives of the people of this planet.

 

So in order for the elect of Yah to believe Yah—trust Yah—they have to divest themselves of all things Babylonian. And what does that look like?

 

It may require:

 

• Eliminating some of the music we listen to.
• Getting ride of our Netflix—Hulu—Cable—Movie subscriptions—giving up going to movies.
• Drugs and alcohol are often used to numb our minds to the things going on around us. In reality, drugs and alcohol numb us to truth and the things of Yah.
• Stop consuming Babylonian mystery religion content.
• Turn away from occultism of every sort.
• Flee from pornography.
• Do not entertain homosexuality.
• Fight against abuses against the innocents of this world: our precious children
• Be judicious in the articles and books we read.
• Abhor the love of money, power and notoriety.
• Be not involved in politics—the governments of this world are Luciferian and Nicolaitan.

 

You see, all these, and so much more, find their origin in Babylon.

 

When we choose Yah’s way of life and our focus turns away from this world’s Luciferian—Babylonian way of life, Yah fills the void. You know, the drastic changes we make in our day-to-day lives may away from Babylon will seem at first difficult. Most of us remember when we first came to Faith and we turned our attentions away from Babylon how challenging it was at times: I’m not talking just about missing the leeks and cucumbers and melons that we enjoyed back in Egypt, but I’m talking about the challenges that come with family, friends, work and society. When we begin to walk in Yah’s Way of Life, society does not take well to our rejection of Babylon. And Babylon will often remind us that we came from Babylon and that Babylon is where we belong.

 

But when we remove Babylon from our lives, we can believe Yah and live the life abundant that Yeshua promised we’d live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Action:

 

I’ll pick-up where we’re leaving off next time.