Have you ever responded to God's Will with a really hesitant or difficult "Yes"?

Have you ever responded to God's Will with a really hesitant or difficult "Yes"?  I certainly have - and if you have, too, please feel free to share your experience here, stating what you felt He wanted you to do, and what the outcome/end result was.

I'll kick things off by sharing my own story:

One of the hardest decisions of my life was God's command to sell all my possessions, leave all my friends (I had no family), and move from Seymour, Missouri (near Springfield) to Colorado Springs – a place I NEVER wanted to see again due to some severe childhood traumas involving endless sexual abuse by my adoptive father, beginning at age 10, before he retired from the Army at Fort Carson.

Anyway, it was 1996 and I was 45 when I first "heard" those words droning on in my mind on a daily basis for at least six months:  “Move to Colorado Springs!”  I was still a "baby Christian," just a year into my walk with “Jesus” - and when I heard those words, all I could think of was: "This CANNOT be from God, because He KNOWS what happened in Colorado Springs!  Why would He do this to me?”

I fought Him for at least six months before surrendering; and the ONLY reason I gave in was because during that time, I just “happened” to be studying the workbook, Experiencing God, which included this mind-blowing thought:  “Whenever God leads you to a God-sized task, it always leads you to a crisis of belief – and what you do about it, reveals how you really feel about God.”

Long story short, I LOVED GOD, and so (being young in my walk at the time), I made a deal with Him, which was that I would move to Colorado Springs for a year, and if nothing good happened for me there, I fully intended to return to Springfield Missouri.

So, I sold all my furniture and most possessions, and put my house on the market; packed my dog and some personal possessions into a U-Haul trailer, and moved to Colorado Springs, not knowing what to expect.

It was a hard year, in part, because I couldn’t find a decent job, and nobody wanted to be friends with a middle-aged single woman, as most people my age were married. (I was a retired Army journalist, and thankfully I had a military pension to help me survive!) Even the Baptist church I attended left me feeling “excluded.”  Not only that, but I kept feeling like “something was missing” in Christians churches – but I, being new to the Bible, I really couldn’t figure out what it was that I was missing... 

Be that as it may, the only good thing that happened during that time was that I had finished the year-long Bible study my pastor had given me before I left Missouri, which certainly gave me a better understanding of exactly WHO I was serving…

One Sunday morning, after church in May 1997, feeling lonely, empty and disheartened, I found myself sitting in my car, crying, because my life was seemingly at a standstill.  I had reached the proverbial “end of my rope” in that unfriendly city, and I couldn’t stop myself from yelling at God, demanding to know WHY He had done this to me; after all, I had done everything He wanted me to, and NOTHING was happening.

I was lonely, basically broke and very unhappy; and so I told Him I must have misheard him back in Missouri, and that I was DONE with this nonsense, and planned to move back to Missouri as soon as my rental contract was up, because I couldn’t take it anymore. 

Well, as you know, God sometimes makes us wait until we get to that point of brokenness – but He obviously heard me because the very next morning, I received a surprise call from the Colorado Springs Business Journal (which also produced the Pueblo, Colorado and Madison, Wisconsin Business Journals), informing me that they wanted to hire me as the new Associate Editor! 

My first thought was: “But I wanna go back to Missouri” … however, I quickly remembered that God had obviously told me to move here for a reason, although I couldn’t figure out for the life of me WHAT that reason could be, and so I ultimately decided I’d better stay put.

Anyway, from that day on, events began to move more rapidly, and the bottom line is, MANY great things occurred BECAUSE I had obeyed HIS Will, and not gone my own way!

First - although my pastor in Missouri had warned me to make sure I remained a faithful Baptist - in the spring of 1997, I started attending an Assemblies of God Church where, two years in a row, I ended up becoming a summer camp counselor for abused and neglected children.

While acting in the capacity of counselor, I honestly don’t know who was healed the most during that week-long camp; me or the kids, as the experience served to heal my own childhood wounds from the inside-out!  

Through that same church, in 2008, God saw fit to allow me to become a mentor in a prison ministry called “Friends in Transition,” where, once a month, I went into the Women’s Prison in Canon City, Colorado, to mentor two women I was paired with over the course of  five years. 

I felt at the time, that perhaps these two worthy causes must have been why God sent me to Colorado; but no – there was a WHOLE lot more to come!

Please read on.

In 1998, although journalism has always been my first love, due to some strange circumstances (led by ADONAI), I stayed with the Business Journal for only a year, and ended up working as a contractor to US Air Force Space Command doing administrative work in their Classified Documents Library. 

It was there I met a man who told me he was a “Messianic Jew” who invited me to the Wednesday evening Torah studies presented by a Messianic Rabbi from Denver.  Well, praise ADONAI - those studies answered ALL of my questions as to why I felt “something was missing in Christian circles! 

As a German-born Jewish girl, my transformation to Messianic Judaism was immediate; it “felt right”; it was HOME – I didn’t have to (and wasn’t about to!) give up Jesus, whose given, Hebrew Name I learned was Yeshua. I was convinced that THIS was the REAL REASON, God caused me to move to Colorado, and it may have been - but as it turned out, there was more to come…  (BTW, this all happened around Passover of 1998.)

Backing up a bit, I had given up dating after left Missouri, because I could never pick “good men.”  Recognizing that God was giving me a “second chance” in life, I had wholeheartedly given my heart to Jesus, and I told him that if he wanted me to find another husband, HE would have to drop him in my lap.

Well, he did exactly that around Sukkot, the following year in 1999.   Still at Space Command in September 1999, I met my future husband, US Air Force (Retired) Lt. Col. William (Bill) Welker, who was working as a Computer, GPS and Satellite Security Engineer.

I led Bill to Torah, and we were married seven months later, in 2000 (under a “chupa” in the Messianic synagogue to which we ultimately belonged for 8 years), pledging our lives to YHWH/Yeshua/Torah!

In 2001, due to severe neck issues that required surgery (plus, my ever-growing perfume allergies which left me feeling every day like I had the flu), Bill urged me to quit work and stay home.  Having never NOT worked, I didn’t know what to do with myself, and began to pray for guidance.

And that is when God FINALLY showed me what His ultimate goal for me was:  I was to create a website revealing Torah to Christians; Yeshua to Jews; and God to all the world’s atheists. He had me call my ministry The Refiner’s Fire (therefinersfire.org), which has never had any “donate” buttons, because I wasn’t interested in using it for profit.

Since those early days, The Holy One of Israel kept “growing” Bill and me – and together, as a team constantly studying Scripture (and with Bill’s expertise in astronomy and calendar issues), God caused The Refiner’s Fire to flourish as a Messianic Apologetics Ministry.

In 2007, Yahweh dropped into my lap the privilege of working on the Aramaic English New Testament; and caused me to write several books of my own, including my best seller, Should Christians be Torah Observant.

And more recently, God has allowed me the privilege of becoming an Associate Professor at the Messianic Jewish Rabbinate, the online yeshiva from which I graduated in 2017. To this very day, I continue to do my daily work for God by reaching the world for YHWH/Yeshua/Torah via the Internet!

I thought my life was over when Bill passed away in 2021; but Yahweh gave me a new Torah-observant husband named Thomas Leannah a year and a half later, via some really unusual circumstances (which is a whole ‘nuther story!), and together, we are continuing to run The Refiner’s Fire.  (Please read our About Us page: https://therefinersfire.org/who_we_are.htm )

All those things happened because of my willingness to obey God, nearly three decades ago, back in 1996. They serve as PROOF that He is faithful to those who are His.  Sometimes, it takes a while to find out exactly what He wants us to do, but as long as we ask Him to keep us on His Path, we will eventually get there.

For those who are convinced the earth is flat, here are some articles with a more intellectual perspective

 I WAS JUST INVITED TO A "TRUTHER CONVENTION" - people who are convinced the earth is flat, the moon landing never happened; and several other ridiculous notions.

If you have ever been confused by those types, please read the following articles by my late husband, William Welker – a very educated, wise and knowledgeable person with expertise in astronomy, the sciences, computers and calendars ... AND who had the privilege of being selected as an alternate for the Department of Defense (DoD) Group 2, Astronaut (Manned Spaceflight Engineer program) in the Eighties.

Bill also had Master's Degree in Engineering Physics, and - during his Air Force service - he worked on space-based lasers and commanded two Air Force detachments operating sensors on satellites.

In other words, if anybody would know whether the earth is round or flat, it would be Bill...

Does the Bible require a "flat earth?" 

True science and true faith are not in conflict

Most people look, but they don't "see" 

Reader comments and our responses

Advice for those trying to quit smoking, or get rid of some other “bad habit”...

 

Are you trying to quit smoking, or get rid of some other “bad habit?”  If so, perhaps the following might help:

God "breathed" life into us and designed our every organ for a specific purpose. He sends His Holy Spirit to live within Believers who are supposed to live according to His Divine Instructions (Torah – Divine Rules for holy living). 

Since Yahweh puts His Holy Spirit within us, we must respect the idea that we mere humans have been allowed the privilege of BEING a temple – and as such, our body is a HOLY place that MUST be properly cared for.

For instance, purposely and incessantly choosing to inhale smoke into an organ created to breathe life-giving oxygen to ALL our organs, we are not only guilty of trying to alter, or even to kill what God created, but we are also desecrating the temple that contains His Holy Spirit. 

(Same thing can apply to any other bad habits, such as drinking, doing drugs, over-eating/gluttony, having problems controlling our sex drive or proclivities, etc. - ALL of which can destroy our bodies and quality of life...)

Please take a look at the following passages, to see the importance of God’s Work in us:

Genesis 2:7 Then ADONAI, God, formed a person [Hebrew: adam] from the dust of the ground [Hebrew: adamah] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being. (CJB)

Ezekiel 11:19 and I will give them unity of heart. "I will put a new spirit among you." I will remove from their bodies the hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh; 20 so that they will live by my regulations, obey my rulings and act by them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts go after the heart of their loathsome things and disgusting practices, I will bring [the consequences of] their ways on their own heads,' says Adonai ELOHIM." (CJB)

John 14:17 The Spirit of Truth, He who the world is not able to receive because it has not seen Him, nor does know Him. But you know Him for He dwells with you and He is in you. 18. I will not leave you bereaved. For I will come to you in a little while. 19. And the world will not see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20. In that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 21. He who has my Commandments with him and keeps them, he is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him and reveal myself to him. (AENT)

Brothers and sisters, God only wants the best for us.  He gave us Divine Instructions for holy living designed to help guide us into Eternal Life. He also gave us the choice to ignore those instructions... Which will YOU choose?

DID YESHUA REALLY DECLARE “ALL FOODS CLEAN?”

 Do you really believe that Yeshua declared ALL foods clean? Of course he didn't!  Neither Aramaic nor early Greek manuscripts include that parenthetical comment in the text. 

Let's check it out.

Mark 7:14. And Y'shua called all the crowd and said to them, Hear me all of you and understand, 15. There isn't anything that is on the outside of a man that enters into him that is able to defile him. But the thing that goes out from him, that is the thing that defiles a man. 16. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 17. And when Y'shua entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about that saying.

18. He said to them, You are likewise slow to understand. You do not know that everything which enters into a man from the outside is not able to defile him. 19. Because it does not enter into his heart, rather into his belly and is cast out by excretion, which purifies all the food. [1] 20. But anything that goes out from a man is that which defiles a man. 21. For from the inside, from the heart of the sons of men proceeds evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, theft, murder, 22. Extortion, wickedness, deceit, lust. An evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23. All these evil things, they do proceed from within a man and defile him. (AENT)

NOTE:  This chapter showcases one of the greatest discussions of oral versus written Jewish law that exists in these writings of the Renewed Covenant. In many ways this presages the heated exchanges that would be recorded in the Talmud some 200 years later. However, a major misunderstanding of this verse found its way into the modern translations with the parenthetical comment "in so doing Y'shua declared all foods clean."

The truth is, neither Aramaic nor early Greek manuscripts include this in the text, which is clearly an attempt by some editors to abandon Torah's dietary laws. 

The point being established is that if you plot things like murder, lies, adulteries and so forth, then why be concerned about the food you eat, when weightier things are making you much more unclean than your food? Even if a person kept a perfectly kosher diet, but had such unclean thoughts, such a one would rank among the most unkosher of people. (See Luke 11:40.)

So, what was Y'shua saying? First of all, everyone he was addressing knew that no true believer would ingest anything YHWH considered "unclean." Secondly, Y'shua wasn't advocating eating unclean foods; he was trying to show that, unless we are living holy/set apart lives consecrated to YHWH, our every thought, deed and action would be viewed as unholy. If we hang out with drunkards, thieves, criminals and prostitutes, we will automatically eventually behave like they do.

We live in a fallen world where it is very hard to refrain from eating anything unclean. Not long ago, it came to light that the pink coloring in some of Starbuck's drinks and cake products is cochineal extract, an insect-derived red coloring. The Cochineal bug is an insect that sucks the sap of prickly pear cactus and was originally used by the early Mixtec Indians of pre-Hispanic Mexico as a red dye for clothing but the use of cochineal dye eventually moved on to food. In the United States it is primarily as a food dye, as in pork sausage, pies, dried fish and shrimp, candies, pills, jams, lipstick and rouge, and the brightly colored maraschino cherries....

The thing is, the Cochineal bug isn't considered "kosher" - which means, many unsuspecting Torah observant followers are being sucked into "the world" without their knowledge! Take a look:

Leviticus 11: 20 "'All winged swarming creatures that go on all fours are a detestable thing for you; 21 except that of all winged swarming creatures that go on all fours, you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, enabling them to jump off the ground. 22 Specifically, of these you may eat the various kinds of locusts, grasshoppers, katydids and crickets. 23 But other than that, all winged swarming creatures having four feet are a detestable thing for you. (CJB)

Y'shua came NOT to abolish His Father's Divine Instructions (Torah), but to remove our past sins via his Divine Blood, and show us how to "walk the walk," His death had nothing, whatsoever to do with what we are allowed to eat...

Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (AENT)

Luke 8: 1. And it happened after these things that Y'shua was going around in the cities and in the villages and was preaching and declaring the Kingdom of Elohim. (AENT)