It was 1986, in the midst of a three year drought, when two brothers who lived in a kibbutz near the Sea of Galilee made an incredible discovery. As these two fisherman monitored their equipment on the lake, they noticed something glistening in the sun covered in mud. It was a fishing boat. Upon deeper examination, archaeologists determined that these two brothers had discovered an ancient boat from the time of Yeshua (Jesus). It’s was called the “Jesus boat” and is now located in a museum next to the Sea of Galilee.

Hidden under water for centuries, the only reason it was discovered was that the severe drought had lowered the lake surface so drastically; so that even when no one was looking for it — this treasure was discovered totally unexpectedly.

You may have noticed — it’s becoming more and more spiritually dry in this world and sometimes I wonder, will anything good ever come out of this mess? Yet I think the same thing can happen for us as happened to those two fisherman. When things get low, and dry, and sparse, suddenly when we least expect it, God can reveal treasure that we couldn’t see or know about because everything was abundantly okay. Maybe it’s a friendship that blossoms because of the pressure or need … or, maybe just a new and deeper insight into the Lord’s own sufferings; or maybe a new spiritual gift of encouragement…..there are many possibilities, and I think we ought to be looking for them, though they might appear when we least expect it.

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt I’m sure several million people were wondering, “How am I going to be fed? How am I going to survive in this wilderness?” Imagine the logistical nightmare. An incalculable quantity of food and water were needed to survive in the desert. Where would it come from? Yet, in this seemingly impossible situation, God provided!

He provided Manna from heaven. When the people first saw the Manna on the ground, they wondered in amazement saying to each other, “What is this?”, which is exactly what “Manna” means in Hebrew — “What is it?” They were receiving the food of angels, [Psalm 78:24-25] which sustained them the entire time in the desert.

But we know what happened as time passed…the people got used to this miraculous provision, began to take it for granted, and even be bored with it, and, of course…the wonder of God’s supernatural provision evaporated. Israel lost sight of the miracle that God was doing in their lives each and every day.

Each and every day is a miracle from God. Each day of our lives we walk through a world filled with the wonders and glory of the Lord. But we, too, can become dull and lose the wonder of all that He has done and provided for us, even our very salvation. We need to awaken to the daily miracles of life, and to the never ending opportunities the Lord is opening, to pour His love into us, and through us. As we do, may we always be saying to ourselves, “Wow — what amazing love is this that’s been given to me!”

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions

Another interesting correlation we draw from Mashiach Ben Joseph is how Joseph was the object of his father’s (Jacob) love, just as Yeshua (Jesus) was loved of our Heavenly Father. This preference Jacob had for Joseph was unequivocal, and it was also pretty controversial among his brothers. Competition among siblings seemed to infect the family just as it can in many of our own families. But the beauty of Joseph’s place in his father’s heart emerges when we realize that, as a type of Yeshua (Jesus), Joseph powerfully illustrates the love our Heavenly Father has for all of us, equally and intensely, so there’s no need or cause for competition among us.

Now Jacob’s love for Joseph was connected with his love for Rachel and the long wait for a son by his beloved wife. Joseph didn’t have to do anything to earn Jacob’s love. It was not based on his performance, even though it turned out that his character was pretty sterling. Likewise, our Father’s love for us is totally based in His love for Yeshua, not on our performance. Our HIGHS do not exalt us, and our LOWS do not depress us in the sight of the Father. Our acceptance is not dependent on us, but rather on Him who sits on the throne, Who never changes!

Rejoice, for your are accepted in the “beloved!” You may say to yourself, “There’s nothing good here!” But remember that God the Father is seeing His Son when He looks at you. Your struggle against temptation and sin only proves that you have been lovingly adopted into His family, fully identified with His beloved Son. Realizing this is a source of tremendous freedom, prompting deep gratitude and a growing desire for relationship with God.

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions

In the Tenach (Old Testament), the Lord commanded Israel to count the Omer (the Barley Harvest) beginning the day after the sabbath during Passover, 50 days to the Biblical Festival of Shavuot (Pentecost). Today is the 29th day of the Omer and Shavuot is just a few weeks away.

A remarkable fact is that for nearly 2000 years the Jewish people had no homeland, and no harvest to count – yet they continued to count the Omer, counting a harvest that did not exist. Then, about 130 years ago a historical miracle began as the Lord drew the Jewish people back to their ancient homeland, the land of Israel. The land was revived from dusty desert, and the barley harvest was restored, (as well a multitude of other crops), so that now, the Omer is counted as it was in ancient times, with an actual harvest!

Now, if the Jews in diaspora (dispersion) could count the days of a non-existent harvest, in expectation of a divine blessing which they earnestly hoped for, then they set an excellent example for us who trust in the Messiah they gave to the world. Since faith is the conviction of things NOT seen, we, also, can begin to give thanks for blessings we’re praying for, but have yet to receive. Our unsaved loved-one, chronic illness, broken relationship, financial disaster, loss of vision…..all these are trials which are testing and maturing our faith.

We can rejoice in them, even as we give thanks in the expectation of victory, restoration, and a harvest of righteousness which is on the way. And may these come to many of us by Shavuot, this year (May 19th).

Thank the Lord for the blessings you’re about to receive — they’re on the way!

We have a cord-free, battery-free alarm clock — we call it KIDS! Like clockwork, each morning our kids, Elianna (6) and Obadiah (2), come and jump into our bed to give us that ever-so-joyful wake-up call. Since a lot of our work needs to get done at night, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that those 8-hour of sleep nights we used to enjoy just aren’t going to happen again…. at least for another few years.

What’s interesting to me about all this, is that when our kids wake up, they don’t wonder if we’ll be there — they come running and jumping, eagerly and expectantly to see us, sleepy-eyed, bad-breath’d and morning-haired as we may be. They don’t wake up worrying about what they’ll wear today or whether they’ll be warm enough — they expect that they’ll be changed and dressed up nice and warm when it’s cold. They don’t worry about if or what they’re going to eat — they expect that we’ll know that they’re hungry and will serve them a yummy, nutritious breakfast. When they fall down, they immediately look toward us — holding out their hands to receive our hugs and kisses to make it “all better”. They don’t question whether or not we love them — they’re sure of it! They have no worries. They expect that we will take care of their every need.

Don’t you wish you were a baby sometimes? No worries — getting pampered and hugged and kissed. Well, I have good news for you… you ARE a baby! You are the Lord’s baby! We are His children and He loves us with an everlasting and perfect love. He cares for us just like we care for our little children — in fact, even much, much more than that!

From this morning on, let’s start coming to the Lord as we are — His children! We needn’t worry about anything. Our Father awaits the time when we will totally put our trust in Him. He loves us and He knows every one of our needs before even a word is on our lips! Let’s practice putting our worries aside and determine to expect our Heavenly father to meet our every need. And don’t forget to take some time out today and say — Abba, thank you for loving me!

I’ve been reading about thanksgiving, and have recently come across some challenging examples of this from other cultures, that I want to share.

In Africa, there are several tribes that have remarkable ways of expressing their gratitude. In East Africa, the Masai tribe expresses thanks by placing their foreheads on the ground and saying, “My head is in the dirt.” Another African Tribe communicates gratitude by sitting for a long time in front of the hut of the individual whom they want to thank, saying, “I sit on the ground before you.”

These Africans understand that a core attitude of thanksgiving is humility, and their way of expressing it clearly represents that attitude. Our passage in Revelation reflects the same thing: angels, elders, and living creatures all fall on their faces in humility and gratitude to God for who He is.

I see a deep connection between thanksgiving and humility which, perhaps, is often overlooked. Thankful people recognize their need, and the generosity and beneficence of the Giver, and every truly grateful person is humbled by the amazing gifts he’s received from God. So I see that true humility will always be accompanied by gratitude, and also, that those who are truly grateful will be growing in the beautiful characteristic of humility. May it be so for us.

We’re preparing to celebrate our 5th Thanksgiving here in Israel, and as you may or may not know, the majority of Israelis have never heard of this holiday. So it’s always an adventure on the day we go out hunting for a turkey and all the other Thanksgiving foods which Americans are normally accustomed to. You see, most Israelis have never contemplated the idea of cooking a turkey whole, (not that the little Israeli ovens could even fit one if they had).

Facing this Thanksgiving challenge year after year has improved our hunting skills, but nothing in past years compares to the first year we celebrated Thanksgiving — it was a total fiasco! We pre-ordered a turkey several days in advance from the local butcher, and when we went to pick it up, he informed us that they had to cut it up for parts, because they ran out of meat. By that time it was Wednesday evening, we were looking forward to a slew of guests arriving the next day for Thanksgiving dinner…TURKEYLESS!!! We ended up having to pay a whole LOT of money for this ugly, frozen, lopsided, skinny, feathery, turkey (with the neck still attached) the afternoon of Thanksgiving, with barely enough time to cook it (thank God it was skinny!). We actually had to saw off the neck and pluck the ugly thing with tweezers! Then, when we went to the grocery store, we asked for canned cranberry sauce and they pointed us to the beverage aisle, having no earthly idea what we were talking about. Even with all the chaos however, we stayed hopeful and determined to get the job done. We ended up having a wonderful time and got to share the Good news of Messiah with a number of searching Israelis.

So every year since then, we have praised and thanked God that it’s nothing like our first Thanksgiving in the land. But the moral of the story really is, that sometimes things don’t go exactly the way we’d expected or hoped — yet we still need to hang in there for the sake of the final outcome, because our God has a way of making us thankful, even when we are turkeyless, or even when we feel like turkeys.

If things aren’t going your way today, don’t get all flustered and featherless, feeling like you’ve been gobbled up. Keep your eyes on the prize! The Lord never promised it would be easy, but he did promise us great rewards for enduring till the end! And that’s something to be really thankful for. Have a grateful and joyful Thanksgiving!

We got this email from a friend and laughed so hard we had to share it with you.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and saw that she had only three hairs on her head. “Great,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”

So she did, and had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. “Hmm,” she said, “I guess I’ll part my hair down the middle.”

So she did, and had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only one hair left on her head.

“Wow,” she said, “today I get to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did, and had a wonderful, wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.

“Thank God!” she exclaimed. “I was running out of things to do with my hair!”

ATTITUDE is everything! Let’s be grateful for the things God has given us and have a wonderful day!

This is a story relayed by Corrie Ten Boom, “It was Christmas, 1944. My sister, Betsie, had died. I was in a hospital barracks in Ravensbruck, a Nazi prison camp. Dark it was in my heart, and darkness was around me. There were Christmas trees in the street between the barracks. Dead bodies of prisoners had been thrown under the Christmas trees. I tried to talk to the people around me about Christmas, but they mocked and sneered. At last I kept quiet.

In the middle of the night I suddenly heard a child crying and calling, “Mommy! Come to Oelie. Oelie feels so alone.” I went to her and saw a child not so young, but feebleminded. “Oelie, Mommy cannot come, but do you know who is willing to come to you? Jesus will come.” Oelie was lying on a bed next to the window, not far from lack of food, she had a sweet face and beautiful eyes. A bandage of toilet paper covered an incision from surgery on her back. That night I told this poor child about Jesus. How He came into the world as a little baby how He came to save us from our sins. “The Lord Jesus loves Oelie and has borne her punishment on the cross…. Jesus is … [in heaven] right now. He is getting a little house ready for Oelie.” Later I asked her what she remembered of what I had told her. “What is the little house like?” I asked. “It is very beautiful. There are no wicked people as in Ravensbruck only good people and angels. And Oelie will see Jesus there.” The child added, “I will ask Jesus to make me brave when I have a pain. I will think of the pain that Jesus suffered to show Oelie the way to heaven.” Oelie folded her hands; together we gave thanks. Then I knew why I had to spend this Christmas in Ravensbruck.”

Often we find ourself in difficult situations or places and we can’t for the life of us understand for what possible reason we’re here — but be encouraged! We may not understand but God does! And who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?

I recently read a powerful story about a Dutch pastor and his family who had been hiding Jewish people in their home during the second World War. One night, they heard the sound of heavy boots and the loud impatient knocking on the door. They were arrested and loaded into a cattle car. All night long, the pastor and his family rode along in anguish, knowing they were being taken to one of Hitler’s concentration camps only to be separated from each other and likely killed.

Finally, the the train stopped. The doors of the cattle car were opened. They were marched out and lined up beside the railroad tracks. But then something very strange happened. They discovered that they were not in a death camp at all — they weren’t even in Germany!

During the night a courageous employee risked his life and purposely tripped a switch which sent the train of prisoners to Switzerland, to their freedom. Instead of being marched to death, they were welcomed to new life. Wow. Thank you God. In the midst of his joy and relief, the Dutch pastor said, “What do you do with such a gift?”

We have been given a gift of redemption much more powerful than this! And what are we doing with such a gift? Let’s start being about doing the work of the Kingdom! There’s so much work to be done!

This is a sweet story we came across.

When our son Pete was six, it was a Depression year and the bare essentials were all we could afford. We felt we were richer than most people, though, in things of the mind and imagination and spirit. That was a comfort of sorts to us, but nothing a six-year-old could understand.

With Christmas a week off, we told Pete that there could not be any store-bought presents this year–for any of us. “But I’ll tell you what we can do,” said his father with an inspiration born of heartbreak. “We can make pictures of the presents we’d like to give each other.”

For the next few days each of us worked secretly, with smirks and giggles. Somehow we did scrape together enough to buy a small tree. But we had pitifully few decorations to trim it with. Yet, on Christmas morning, never was a tree heaped with such riches! The gifts were only pictures of gifts, to be sure, cut out or drawn and colored and painted, nailed and hammered and pasted and sewed. But they were presents, luxurious beyond our dreams: A slinky black limousine and a red motor boat for Daddy. A diamond bracelet and a fur coat for me. Pete’s presents were the most expensive toys cut from advertisements. Our best present to him was a picture of a fabulous camping tent, complete with Indian designs, painted, of course, by Daddy, and magnificent pictures of a swimming pool, with funny remarks by me. Daddy’s best present to me was a watercolor he had painted of our dream house, white with green shutters and forsythia bushes on the lawn.

Naturally we didn’t expect any “best present” from Pete. But with squeals of delight, he gave us a crayon drawing of flashy colors and the most modernistic technique. But it was unmistakably the picture of three people laughing–a man, a woman, and a little boy. They had their arms around one another and were, in a sense, one person. Under the picture he had printed just one word: US. For many years we have looked back at that day as the richest, most satisfying Christmas we have ever had. — Margery Tallcott

The most precious things in life cannot be bought with money. Let’s focus on the wonderful gifts we’ve been given this season — family, friends and most of all, God’s grace toward us in sending His Son Jesus to die in our place. Merry, merry Christmas.

A new driver for an interstate trucking company was having a difficult time. He found the long cross-country trips extremely tiring. The older driver who traveled with him, however, seemed to thrive on those long trips. He always seemed to look as fresh at the end of the ride as he did at the beginning.

One day, the young man asked the older what his secret was. “Well, it’s really all in the way you look at it,” he replied. “While you went to work this morning, I went for a ride through the country.”

Our focus will determine whether life is work or a ride in the country. We are privileged to be here in this day and age. God is doing awesome things right before our eyes and He’s allowing us to take part!

Let’s get excited about taking a ride with the Lord today! He has great things to show us and teach us along the way!

Corrie Ten Boom tells this story in her book, Each New Day. “When I saw Sadhu Sundar Singh in Europe, he had completed a tour around the world. People asked him, Doesn’t it do harm, your getting so much honor?” The Sadhu’s answer was: “No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honor him, but for Jesus, who was sitting on his back. When people honor me, I know it is not me, but the Lord, who does the job.”

Another wise person once said, “I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinion. But really great men have a … feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them.”

We too, should strive to live knowing that the greatness is through us and give God all the glory He deserves! Lord, help us! We want to empty ourselves of our desires and our agendas, and be available for all the works you want to do through us! And Lord, we want to live a life of honoring You for every work! Thank you for loving us and helping us along the way — in the Name of Jesus, Amen!

Many times, our unbelieving family and coworkers — society in general, can make us feel small and inferior — like second class citizens — because we are Christians. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, somehow, we begin to believe it! We become what I like to call “mopey Christians,” just moping around, keeping our faith hidden under a bushel, feeling afraid to say a word about Jesus, in fear that we might offend someone! And that’s precisely what the enemy wants us to feel!

But we can choose whether or not to give in to his foolishness today! Jesus said that those who follow after Him shall never hunger or thirst — they have been set free from the law of sin and death — they’ve been renewed, cleansed, forgiven, loved with an everlasting love! How on earth can we mope about that??

We need a reality check. We should be holding our heads high today and ready to tell people about the great work he’s done in us! We have been redeemed! There’s so much work to be done!

For those of you who didn’t get that title, it’s a well known children’s Suzuki violin rhythm.

Not long ago, I came across an old issue of Homemade, where Dr. Ernest Mellor writes on fostering good relationships. This is so good I had to share.

“Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn–even before they pick up the violin–is how to take a bow. “If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation,” the instructor said. “But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well.”

Adults love applause too. Being affirmed makes us feel wonderful. If you want to rekindle or keep the flame of love glowing in your marriage [or other important relationships] through the years, try showing and expressing your appreciation for your mate. Add some applause and watch the love grow.

What more can I say? We are all victims and we’re all guilty. Let’s start appreciating one another. There’s so much work to be done!