LOVE IS LOVELIER ... THE SECOND TIME AROUND
I will never forget the day I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior and surrendered my life to Him. It was the best experience I have ever had. The days, weeks, and months that followed were like a never-ending and escalating climax -- leading me to greater heights. I remember crying and crying for days as I kept discovering His love and promises for me through His Word.
As years went by, I became more rooted in the Word of God -- growing in a deeper understanding and knowledge of His instructions and plans for my life. His Word became: my guide to every decision I made; prophetic revelations to my future life; healing for my wounded heart; and deliverance from my past, sinful life.
Everything about the Word of God and my relationship with Jesus has been very intimate and personal to me. I took His Word as a personal message. Every Word He spoke to our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on and so forth, became His very words to me. I moved from the Old Testament to the New Testament and back.
Though I was learning from several pastors and preachers, the Holy Spirit remained my One and only teacher. I learned to move with His flow as He took me to deeper and higher levels in Him. I didn’t stop with what I knew. In fact, the deeper I got in Him, the hungrier I became. There was even a time when I felt that I outgrew the ministers I was following. Somehow I felt that they got stuck to what they have been preaching for years, something like “the same old story”. My hungry spirit kept searching for more.
Everything about the Word of God and my relationship with Jesus has been very intimate and personal to me. I took His Word as a personal message. Every Word He spoke to our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on and so forth, became His very words to me. I moved from the Old Testament to the New Testament and back.
Though I was learning from several pastors and preachers, the Holy Spirit remained my One and only teacher. I learned to move with His flow as He took me to deeper and higher levels in Him. I didn’t stop with what I knew. In fact, the deeper I got in Him, the hungrier I became. There was even a time when I felt that I outgrew the ministers I was following. Somehow I felt that they got stuck to what they have been preaching for years, something like “the same old story”. My hungry spirit kept searching for more.
This hunger in my spirit led me to the discovery of Jesus’ Hebrew roots. It didn’t happen instantly. Though there was no resistance on my part, it was something I could not rush. I wanted to learn more and so I kept my heart and mind open.
It took a few years before I got to where I am now, and yet I still feel so far behind those who have been here years ahead of me. What is amazing though is that I will never ever feel that I will outgrow the leaders of this movement. This means that there will be no stagnation for me or feelings of moving to another place or teaching. I finally found what my spirit has been looking and searching for -- the UNADULTERATED TRUTH!
It took a few years before I got to where I am now, and yet I still feel so far behind those who have been here years ahead of me. What is amazing though is that I will never ever feel that I will outgrow the leaders of this movement. This means that there will be no stagnation for me or feelings of moving to another place or teaching. I finally found what my spirit has been looking and searching for -- the UNADULTERATED TRUTH!
Lately I have been crying over the same Scriptures that I used to read and meditate on. It is as fresh as it was when I first got saved, but on a deeper level and bigger scale. What used to be just for my personal understanding has turned into a corporate understanding of the bride of Yeshua as a whole -- my relationship with the original branches … the parallelisms of the Old Testament to the New Testament … the real meaning of Yeshua’s teachings as well as Paul’s and Peter’s … the continuation of Yahweh’s laws from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant … the true relevance of the Torah … and so much more. I see the missing pieces of the puzzle forming together to form something very clear … something I missed back then, but only because God chose to blind me until the time that I will be ready to see the Truth for what it is.
What I am going to explain to you here is my concept of salvation back then, as it was presented to me, and as I understood it, vis-à-vis my concept of salvation now as I am discovering the unadulterated truth.
What I am going to explain to you here is my concept of salvation back then, as it was presented to me, and as I understood it, vis-à-vis my concept of salvation now as I am discovering the unadulterated truth.
My concept of salvation back then
Being raised Catholic, I knew about Jesus but didn’t really know Him. I knew He died for mankind but I was not able to translate that to my own personal life. After finding out, through a friend, that Jesus paid the penalty for my past sins and future sins, it dawned on me that Jesus did it for me personally. That was the day I began to understand that salvation is only through an understanding of what Jesus did for you personally, receiving this gift, and using it. I also realized that no amount of good works can lead a person to heaven. It is only through acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and surrender to His perfect will, that a person can have eternal life.
As I immersed myself in the Word of God, I discovered more “truths” about salvation. Though I knew that it was by grace that I have been saved, I also knew that I had to work out my salvation. Nobody explained this to me. I just knew because the Word said so. This was when I began to make an analogy in my own mind, and which I share with other people as well.
This is how my analogy goes …
Being raised Catholic, I knew about Jesus but didn’t really know Him. I knew He died for mankind but I was not able to translate that to my own personal life. After finding out, through a friend, that Jesus paid the penalty for my past sins and future sins, it dawned on me that Jesus did it for me personally. That was the day I began to understand that salvation is only through an understanding of what Jesus did for you personally, receiving this gift, and using it. I also realized that no amount of good works can lead a person to heaven. It is only through acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and surrender to His perfect will, that a person can have eternal life.
As I immersed myself in the Word of God, I discovered more “truths” about salvation. Though I knew that it was by grace that I have been saved, I also knew that I had to work out my salvation. Nobody explained this to me. I just knew because the Word said so. This was when I began to make an analogy in my own mind, and which I share with other people as well.
This is how my analogy goes …
Jesus’ gift of salvation for each of us, personally, has been there since the day we were born. However, it is left unopened until the day we make our own personal decision to receive it, through our acceptance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our life. It is our choice what we want to do with it after we open it. Do we keep it in our pockets … leave it somewhere … or use it to open the door? And if we decide to open the door, what are we going to do -- go inside, stay outside, or walk away? If we decide to go inside, again, what are we going to do -- keep walking or stop in the middle and go back?
The point is: Receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is not the end in itself. It is the beginning of eternal life. However, the choice is still up to us. This is clearly explained by Jesus Himself when He said in John 17:3 that ETERNAL LIFE IS KNOWING GOD. The only way we can KNOW GOD is if we stay close to Him through His Word, worship, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. It is a process leading to the actual ‘eternal life’ with Him. Paul gave a very good explanation to this in 1 Corinthians 13:12 when He said that when we are finally face-to-face with God, “we will know Him as He knows us”.
The concept of eternal life is the same as how God created man and this world from the beginning -- perfect and without blemish. This brings us back to creation, which is exactly the same place God is leading us back to, once we receive His Son, Jesus.
God intended man to live not only a perfect life, but a life with no end. In other words, God created man to live forever. Man’s sin brought about the reverse -- sickness, poverty, death, problems, misery, and so on and so forth. It was passed on from generation to generation. Since dominion over the earth was given to man, a man has to redo what Adam did wrong. However, since there was no man who was sin free, God Himself had to come as man, to be the second Adam. Through His death He saved us from sins; through His resurrection He conquered and abolished death.
Through acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior, and through surrender to Him and His perfect will for us, we now gain access to this life for eternity. The here and now is in preparation for the real life to come. What we will do with it, after we receive Jesus, is up to us.
God intended man to live not only a perfect life, but a life with no end. In other words, God created man to live forever. Man’s sin brought about the reverse -- sickness, poverty, death, problems, misery, and so on and so forth. It was passed on from generation to generation. Since dominion over the earth was given to man, a man has to redo what Adam did wrong. However, since there was no man who was sin free, God Himself had to come as man, to be the second Adam. Through His death He saved us from sins; through His resurrection He conquered and abolished death.
Through acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior, and through surrender to Him and His perfect will for us, we now gain access to this life for eternity. The here and now is in preparation for the real life to come. What we will do with it, after we receive Jesus, is up to us.
My concept of salvation now
My concept of salvation has never changed. On the contrary, it has remained the same, but expounded. Now it includes big chunks of the Old Testament that I overlooked.
From the time sin entered the world and reversed God’s perfect plan, He has been extending Himself to His people. Despite man’s unfaithfulness, God continued to build a relationship with them. He gave them the Ten Commandments and all His instructions in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) as a way of telling them how to relate to Him. He instituted Feasts so that the people can celebrate it with Him. However, man’s disobedience and rebellion made him break the laws all the time.
Other than my previous understanding on why Jesus came, I now realize that another great reason He came was to teach us how to follow God’s laws, which we have failed to do on our own. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Though I am a Gentile, I was still grafted into the original branches. I am a child of God, from the lineage of Abraham through Isaac.
My concept of salvation has never changed. On the contrary, it has remained the same, but expounded. Now it includes big chunks of the Old Testament that I overlooked.
From the time sin entered the world and reversed God’s perfect plan, He has been extending Himself to His people. Despite man’s unfaithfulness, God continued to build a relationship with them. He gave them the Ten Commandments and all His instructions in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) as a way of telling them how to relate to Him. He instituted Feasts so that the people can celebrate it with Him. However, man’s disobedience and rebellion made him break the laws all the time.
Other than my previous understanding on why Jesus came, I now realize that another great reason He came was to teach us how to follow God’s laws, which we have failed to do on our own. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Though I am a Gentile, I was still grafted into the original branches. I am a child of God, from the lineage of Abraham through Isaac.
And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac (Galatians 4:28).
The laws and Feasts that God gave to my forefathers still apply to me until now. Obedience to these laws and observance of God’s feasts are not the means to salvation but the result of salvation. In fact, these laws will be impossible to follow without Jesus. It is only through Him that we can even begin to understand what they mean.
The Feasts of the Lord were given to us for our enjoyment. These are God’s feasts that He is sharing with His people. He created these feasts, in contrast with other holidays that are man-made. Yet, more than this, each feast points to something that happened in the past in relation to what will happen in the future. These parallelisms will be totally missed without Jesus. In fact, the Spring Feasts already took place during Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are waiting for the Fall Feasts to happen (for more of this teaching, please visit the link below).
http://www.godzgurlz.com/the-feasts-of-the-lord.html#.UsXPwPRDt48
The very essence of these feasts is not only to remember what God did in the past, for His children, but to prepare us, God’s present children, for what is to come. It will keep our eyes open to the second coming of Jesus, and be more ready for it.
These teachings on the laws and the feasts were the “big chunks” from the Old Testament that I missed in my concept of salvation. Now that I understand, I am sharing it with you.
God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He did not create the New Covenant to abolish the Old. On the contrary, He created the New as a continuation, and to include us, Gentiles, in the equation.
The Feasts of the Lord were given to us for our enjoyment. These are God’s feasts that He is sharing with His people. He created these feasts, in contrast with other holidays that are man-made. Yet, more than this, each feast points to something that happened in the past in relation to what will happen in the future. These parallelisms will be totally missed without Jesus. In fact, the Spring Feasts already took place during Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are waiting for the Fall Feasts to happen (for more of this teaching, please visit the link below).
http://www.godzgurlz.com/the-feasts-of-the-lord.html#.UsXPwPRDt48
The very essence of these feasts is not only to remember what God did in the past, for His children, but to prepare us, God’s present children, for what is to come. It will keep our eyes open to the second coming of Jesus, and be more ready for it.
These teachings on the laws and the feasts were the “big chunks” from the Old Testament that I missed in my concept of salvation. Now that I understand, I am sharing it with you.
God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He did not create the New Covenant to abolish the Old. On the contrary, He created the New as a continuation, and to include us, Gentiles, in the equation.
In Romans 11:14, Paul said ... In the hope of making my fellow Jews jealous, and thus managing to save some of them.
Why else will the Jews be jealous of us unless we become better than them in what they know? The Jews don’t care about our belief as Christians. They wouldn’t want to be converted to our faith. The Jesus that we are talking about sounds more like a Gentile than a Jew to them. So why will they even believe us, let alone be jealous? However, once we start understanding the laws given by God to them … once we start understanding the relevance of the Feasts to the coming of the Messiah … once we start obeying the same commandments they are obeying … then it will start stirring them up. The Jews are very possessive of their religion. And the only way they will be jealous of us is if we start becoming better than them in what they believe in.
Only Jesus can teach us all these. And this is one of the reasons why He came. Who else can better teach us how to follow the laws of the Father other than the Son Himself?
What makes us, Christians, rebel against the very teachings about the ‘laws’ was the way the Jews created their own interpretation of God’s laws and therefore made their own man-made laws. It is really overwhelming to follow all the Jewish laws written in their Talmud. These were the very laws that Jesus and Paul were preaching against, not the laws directly from God. Remember, the secret to prosperity and success (in all aspects of our lives – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) is found in Joshua 1:8.
Only Jesus can teach us all these. And this is one of the reasons why He came. Who else can better teach us how to follow the laws of the Father other than the Son Himself?
What makes us, Christians, rebel against the very teachings about the ‘laws’ was the way the Jews created their own interpretation of God’s laws and therefore made their own man-made laws. It is really overwhelming to follow all the Jewish laws written in their Talmud. These were the very laws that Jesus and Paul were preaching against, not the laws directly from God. Remember, the secret to prosperity and success (in all aspects of our lives – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) is found in Joshua 1:8.
This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
The secret is in the Book of the Law, the Torah.
Again, obeying the law is not the way to salvation. Jesus is the only way. It is only through Him that anyone can be saved, and therefore, have eternal life. However, it is through our obedience to the laws of God that we can prove our allegiance to Him. Jesus said, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them (John 14:21)”.
Once we get this understanding, then it will be easier not only to accept the laws of God but to obey it. Only then will we see the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Only then will we appreciate the process of being brought back to God’s original plan.
Again, obeying the law is not the way to salvation. Jesus is the only way. It is only through Him that anyone can be saved, and therefore, have eternal life. However, it is through our obedience to the laws of God that we can prove our allegiance to Him. Jesus said, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them (John 14:21)”.
Once we get this understanding, then it will be easier not only to accept the laws of God but to obey it. Only then will we see the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Only then will we appreciate the process of being brought back to God’s original plan.
Love is indeed lovelier the second time around. This is where I am in my walk right now. My first love is being rekindled more and more each day. I encourage you to keep your heart and mind open and to let go of anything that can hinder you from getting deeper into the Truth that God longs to reveal to those who earnestly seek Him.
Lisa Maki is the founder/editor of God'z Gurlz, a Bible-based online magazine for women. She and her husband Jason are part of the growing movement of Christians who are discovering their Hebrew roots, and who are studying the Torah and its parallelisms to the New Testament. Lisa is likewise a Professional Writer with over 15 years of experience in the field. Jason and Lisa are part of El Shaddai Ministries, a First Century Believers Church headed by Pastor Mark Biltz.