Scripture for the week of December 18, 2022 By JoBeth Kested
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)
Haven’t we all been captivated by stories of courage and bravery when we hear about someone giving their life to save a child, a friend or even a stranger? No matter how hard we try, we are never able to work hard enough, to be good enough or to love God enough to deserve the sacrifice Jesus made for us. This time of year we remember that God sent Jesus, His only son, into the world as an extravagant demonstration of His great love for us. He came as the baby in a manger, destined for the cross, to die in our place and to save us from our sins. He not only forgives us of our sins, but also gives us His comfort, peace, love and joys in this life as well as the hope for all eternity with Him. In this Christmas season of shopping, parties and family gatherings for sharing gifts, let us not forget the reason for the season and the greatest gift of God’s love for us in Jesus; born to be our savior. Glory to God in the highest!
The oil stayed, remained, didn’t go out for eight days. One tiny bit was enough for a miracle. Ponder this in your heart.
Anointed oil and the miraculous are one, they are echad, just as the Holy Trinity is One, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ElEchad ONE GOD, YHWH, Yeshua and Ruach HaKodesh.
We celebrate Dedication during Hanukkah. We Celebrate the Light of the world coming into our world, our dark world, dispelling all darkness.
Many will ask us why then is there so much darkness. So much wrong with the world today.
Well my dear precious friends, on the first night of Hanukkah this year, Abba answered this for me. He lit me up with His Revelation.
Shalom (He- ElEchad – The One-Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are found when we embrace the Hebraic Roots of our faith and embrace Him and His Way.
As long as the church profanes and disregards the Hebraic roots of their faith, casts off the Jews, lives in antisemitism, there will be no Shalom. Something will be missing, something is broken. As long as believers speak out of their mouths from their heart.. this or that is Old Testament.. we live in the new.. there is the wall of division that Yeshua (Jesus) was born, lived died and rose again to break down that wall so that we could be born again and embrace Him as Shalom.
This Hanukkah, examine your heart. Ask Abba if there is any wall of division within you. Embrace the Hebraic Roots of your Faith. Ask Abba for the fullness of His Shalom in Revelations and Understanding. Are you embracing Him as ElEchad -One? Genesis to Revelation? Revelation to Eternity? HE IS THE ETERNAL. or are you dividing Him up into parts? Old and New? Jew and Believer in Jesus? He is One..shalom literally means whole – nothing missing, nothing broken. Ponder that in your heart.
Ask the Light of the World, Yeshua our Messiah – Jesus to light you up with His Shalom Revelation this Hanukkah.
Ephesians 2 13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. 14 For he himself is our shalom — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us 15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, 16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.
17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby,[a]18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2Complete Jewish Bible
2 You used to be dead because of your sins and acts of disobedience. 2 You walked in the ways of the ‘olam hazeh and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers of the Air, who is still at work among the disobedient. 3 Indeed, we all once lived this way — we followed the passions of our old nature and obeyed the wishes of our old nature and our own thoughts. In our natural condition we were headed for God’s wrath, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love 5 that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah — it is by grace that you have been delivered. 6 That is, God raised us up with the Messiah Yeshua and seated us with him in heaven, 7 in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. 8 For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. 9 You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. 10 For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.
11 Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — 12 at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.
13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. 14 For he himself is our shalom — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us 15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, 16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.
17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby,[a]18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family. 20 You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself. 21 In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord. 22 Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!
Blessings and Shalom-Love Beyond Measure, Beth Auman
