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

This groundbreaking conversation took place at Caesarea Phillipi, which lies today in the modern day reserve of the Banias in the Golan Heights region of Israel. The city was established by Ptolemaic Greeks, a Hellenistic community where the worship of the god Pan was centered. Reviled by the Jews of Yeshua’s time and considered by them the most idolatrous place in the entire Galilee, to this day it remains a place of nature worship and deep paganism.

Why did Yeshua (Jesus) deliberately take his disciples to the most sinful, pagan place to reveal who He was? Why not in the temple courts, or the tomb of Jeremiah or one of the prophets, where He might feel more at home and welcomed? No, Yeshua revealed who He really was… in the darkest corner of Israel.

Now that tells me that the Lord is not shy about shining His light in dark places, and that includes the ones inside me. Psalm 139 tells me that He is intimately acquainted with all of them –that I can forget about keeping secrets from Him. It seems He rather delights in walking into enemy territory and taking ground. Those areas of my life that I don’t want anyone else to see, (and usually can hide from them) – He wants to visit, speak His word, illuminate and cleanse the place! The places where I’m darkest and weakest are His greatest opportunities to be glorified through repentance, transformation, and healing.

Take time to open before God the dark areas of your life, trusting in His perfect and patient love for you. He wants to reveal His forgiveness and beauty right where you are most ashamed and miserable. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against a saint whose faith and courage invite Yeshua deep into the hidden areas of his soul, to be cleansed and given over to Him.

The story of the Exodus is a story of miracles – yet in the beginning when Moses first appeared before Pharaoh to deliver the children of Israel from 400 years of slavery, the Israelites were severely tempted and became angry because of the initial hardships that were laid upon them.

They leveled their anger at Moses because suddenly they were told that they would have to gather their own straw for making bricks. They were concerned about offending their slave-masters, fearing that they would slay them.

The Israelites were so accustomed to their slavery that they didn’t want their lives disrupted despite the fact that freedom was at hand. Resigned to this miserable life, they utterly failed to apprehend or appreciate the freedom that was soon approaching. Yes, there was a temporary price: increased hardship and great pressure would set the stage for their final deliverance.

The same can happen to us. It has often been said “The darkest night is just before the dawn”…

Perhaps the enemy senses his impending defeat and pulls out all the stops to prevent it. Perhaps the Lord loves a good story with a really dramatic and climactic ending and great glory for His Name…in any case –

Don’t let yourself remain accustomed to any form of bondage – seek and believe for the freedom that God has given us through His Son. Expect a life of great victory over sin and demonic oppression – Why? Because that is His promise to us!

Recently, I’ve been studying the Jewish roots of many of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) parables, and I came across an interesting saying from a Jewish Rabbi that I believe has something to teach us.

Rabbi Eliezer said, “Repent one day before your death. His disciples asked him, “Does then one know what day he will die?” “Then all the more reason to repent today”, he replied, “lest he die tomorrow, and thus his whole life is spent in repentance.”

When I first became a believer, I thought by simply dealing with my outward sins that I could live a state of sinlessness. But it wasn’t long before the Lord began revealing and dealing with my inward sins and attitudes. Now, and the longer I walk with Him, I understand more and more the meaning of daily repentance!

If we truly want to be free and walk in His liberty, we cannot avoid this crucial requirement for freedom. Because we cannot receive His forgiveness without it, repentance must be a way of life for us [1 John 1:9].

Staying close to the Lord is His heart’s desire for us…but one of the main conditions for it is walking in regular repentance. When we walk in humility and truthfulness about our sin — we are walking in the light, and the blood of Jesus keeps cleansing us from sin. In that condition we are so much more able to love the Lord and those around us — with Him, touching one life at a time. So, let’s lay down our pride and turn to Him every day….with genuine repentance!

An ancient Hebrew commentator wrote of this verse, “In the words of our teachers of blessed memory and in the Midrash [ancient Hebrew commentaries of the O.T.], it is taught that the ‘breaker’ is Elijah and ‘their King’ is the branch of the son of David.”

As I read this commentary, I was blown away by the interpretation of this scripture by ancient Hebrew scholars! The Jewish people were clearly expecting a prophet like Elijah who would call the people back to repentance, and, afterward, the branch, the son of David, who would bring peace and freedom to his people. The fulfillment of these expectations began 2000 years ago with John the Baptist, whose prophetic ministry prepared the entire nation through repentance for the coming Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua), whose death and resurrection brought peace with God and freedom from sin, which laid the spiritual foundation for His coming Kingdom.

While the physical reign of the Messiah/King on Earth is yet future, and will begin when He returns, for the past 2000 years the Kingdom of heaven has been breaking forth in the hearts of men, and every true believer is breaking out with it. This wonderful message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”, hasn’t changed since the Lord first proclaimed it in Galilee [Mark 1:14]!

The word “repent”, is “metanoia” in Greek, which means to “change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”

The message of repentance remains central to the breaking forth of God’s Kingdom! Through it Jesus brought peace and freedom – and without it there can be no true faith or spiritual life; so let’s stay focused, always remembering that this gospel of the Kingdom always begins with repentance from sin, continues in faith toward God, and results in freedom and peace. With so many who have still not heard it, let’s proclaim it because there’s so much work to be done!

The enemy has only come to lie to us, kill and destroy us. The rejection we receive is ultimately from him — the person who outwardly does the rejecting is merely a pawn in his game. That rejection is a lie! Over time we begin to believe that lie until it finally becomes truth in our hearts. We can live a lifetime believing that lie. We can spend years and years covering for it as we talked about yesterday, with pride, fear and rebellion. And these build walls — walls that imprison us — and isolate us from the ones we love.

Here is step two in getting free. We must refuse those lies that our enemy instilled in us. We must do the rejecting now! And then choose to believe God’s truths about us. That we are loved, protected, healed — blessed in every way.

This is a walk of faith. Let’s ask the Lord again to reveal what we need to know in order to be truly free.

One of my favorite heroes of the faith is Hudson Taylor. For those who are unfamiliar with Hudson Taylor, he led a great awakening in China which continues on till this day.

At one point during his ministry, Hudson Taylor was deeply distressed by many burdens. As he prayed for strength to carry on, he came across Psalm 55:22 — “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain thee.”

Suddenly this truth entered into his heart and he sprung to his feet and cried, “This fear-allaying truth has evaded me too long! I see it all now. If we are obeying the Lord and still run into difficulty, the heavy responsibility rests with HIM, not with us!” Then he prayed, “Lord, you shall all the burden! At your bidding I will go forward, leaving the results with You!”

With the burden lifted off his shoulder, Hudson Taylor went on to establish a great work in China.

Are you burdened today? Whatever your burden — cast it upon the Lord — and allow His peace to overflow your life! There is so much work to be done!

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!

Ever use that phrase on your kids? “Come on, will you grow up already?!”

As our little three year old explorer, Elianna, is becoming more agile and able to communicate her desires, she’s discovering more opportunities each day — climbing on the furniture, opening the refrigerator and asking for various items, reaching things she was never able to reach before, whew! She’s experiencing her new freedom and we’re experiencing major exhaustion! But we’ve noticed that with her new found freedom comes the desire to have even more freedom — and when something doesn’t go quite the way she wants when she wants it, uh – oh, look out. Screaming, crying the whole nine yards. We are trying to teach her that this kind of behavior is not acceptable but it seems that she won’t fully understand that concept until she “grows up” a bit.

One sign of maturity is the ability to delay gratification, or deny it completely. Wanting our way when we want it is childish behavior and doesn’t work with God’s plan for an anointed life! This may sound harsh, but I’m speaking to myself too!

There are no shortcuts to God. We cannot demand our way and our timing with Him. He has a perfect plan based upon His desires and His timing and if we want to go God’s way, we must comply! And not only that, the things of God take time too — developing a strong and anointed prayer life takes time a focused mind and spent with the Father, it doesn’t come overnight. Reading and understanding the Word and applying it to our lives, it takes time and much practice!

Let’s grow up today. God wants us to be a mature bride — one ready to rule with Him when He comes! There’s so much work to do!

I heard this story recently.

Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. If one of them got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival.

One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, “I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Do you want to be rich? You can, but he will be twice as much. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?”

The man thought for a moment, and then said, “Please… blind me in one eye.”

I think we are often unaware of the deceptive way the enemy operates in this area of our lives. Is it easier for us to show sympathy when a person is hurting then to truly rejoice when they receive a blessing? That’s one surefire way to tell.

God wants us to be free of the bondages that hold us back from doing great things for Him, and many times we don’t even know they exist! Let’s examine our hearts today. Perhaps we need to do some repenting. There’s so much work to be done!

Once upon a time, there was a prince who received a very rare and beautiful bird. He named her Goldie and placed her in a lovely, 14K gold cage. But the poor creature was not impressed by the gold at all. She pleaded for her freedom but the prince loved her much too much to part with her. Still, she continued to beg. In final desperation, she asked that he at least allow her go to her relatives and tell them that, though captive, she was still alive.

The prince was not certain she would return if he allowed her to go, so he decided to go and inform them himself. He went into the forest, where Goldie directed him and he found her sister. When she heard the awful news of Goldie’s capture, she immediately fell to the ground and died.

Sorrowful, he returned to his castle and told Goldie the sad news that her sister had died. Immediately Goldie collapsed and died in the same manner.

Perplexed, but a tear rolling down his cheek, the prince then took the poor bird out of the cage, gently wrapped her in a cloth and placed her on his window sill in order to bury her. Suddenly, to the prince’s amazement, the cloth began to move and Goldie fluttered out. She quickly flew out the window and landed in the nearest tree.

“You don’t understand, fine prince” called the bird from the nearby, “by pretending to die, my sister taught me the way to escape.”

The moral of the story is simply this. If we want to truly be free — we have to die!

If we want to truly live a life of freedom, a life full of peace and joy, a life which provokes others to jealousy — we must learn to die to our flesh and give our all to the One who has given His all for us! Let’s take up our cross once again today. There’s sooooo much work to be done!

I heard a story about a man who was imprisoned during Napoleons reign. While sulking in his dungeon one day, he etched on the wall the words “Nobody Cares”.

A few weeks later, through a crack in the dungeon floor, a little green shoot sprang forth, reaching toward the tiny ray of sunlight that came from his small prison cell window. The prisoner began giving a portion of his daily water to the little shoot and it began to grow. One morning the man awoke to a beautiful flower. A tear rolling down his face, he crossed out the words, “Nobody Cares” and replaced them with “God Cares.”

The story goes on to tell that His devotion to the flower was reported to the Empress Josephine. She was so very moved that she convinced Napoleon to set the man free.

How many times do we feel like “Nobody Cares”? God has planted little shoots of hope in each and every one of our difficult circumstances — do you know that? Perhaps we’re stepping on them, not even noticing they exist. Perhaps we’re pulling the shoots before they spring forth into beautiful flowers.

God wants us to be released from our prisons of despair. Look around! See what God has planted since the beginning of time especially for us today. Be encouraged! There’s so much work to be done!

We came across this story, about a man who was slowly losing his memory. After a lengthy examination, the doctor said that a risky operation on his brain might reverse his condition and restore his memory. However, the surgery would be so delicate that a nerve could be severed, causing total blindness.

The surgeon asked, “So, which would you rather have, your sight or your memory?” The man pondered the question for a while and replied, “My sight, because I would rather see where I am going than remember where I have been.”

Our enemy is always trying to dig up the past and keep us all bound up in our failures. But be encouraged! Today is a new day! Today and every day we have a choice to make! Like Paul, we must choose to press forward and put aside our past. We must purpose to keep our eyes on the Lord, not on our successes or failures, but upon on what can we do for Him today!

Be free from the shackles of the past! Keep your eyes on the prize! There’s so much work to be done!

Race car driving champion Bill Vukovich won the infamous Indianapolis 500 race two times, a record of success few others have achieved. When asked about the secret of his success in the race, Vukovich simply replied, “There’s no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left.”

Sometimes we have a tendency to complicate things when it comes to serving the Lord. But like race car driving, there’s really no secret, just move forward and finish the race! The only thing I would change about Bill’s advice is steer RIGHT!!

Are you struggling with confusion, discouragement or anxiety about things of the Lord? God is not a God of confusion, discouragement or anxiety! Let’s get back to the basics today. God created us, loves us unconditionally and wants to free us from all our entanglements that we may be holy as He is holy, that we may be able to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves! We’re in this together, for the win!

Last night began the solemn memorial of the 22,000 soldiers who’ve perished in various wars fought throughout the course of Israel’s short history. Even right now, as we write this devotion, again the sirens ring aloud. Everyone in Israel can hear the sirens at this moment and just about all of them will stop what they are doing in remembrance of those who’ve laid their lives down for our country’s freedom.

Today we mourn, but tomorrow we will celebrate. Israelis will be in the streets singing, dancing, eating and bopping each other on the head with blue and white blow-up hammers and throwing confetti. Old, young, black and white — it’s really a site to see. I’ve never seen anything quite like it — an entire country celebrating together. It is truly a sign of the freedom that has been won for us.

We as believers have been given a freedom far greater than this, however. Jesus laid down His life that we might have freedom from sin — freedom from the chains of darkness, freedom to live as we ought to live, in purity, righteousness and holiness! How much more should we honor the Lord’s sacrifice by living a life that expresses that freedom! We need to be living memorials of His sacrifice as we show forth His freedom in our lives.

Let’s give our life again to the Lord today. God wants to use us to accomplish great things for His Kingdom. Let’s get free! There’s so much work to be done!

Last evening began the holiday of Pesach (Passover), the day we remember God’s merciful redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt. When the final plague struck Pharoh and the Egyptians in Exodus, those who were spared were were the ones who applied blood to their doorposts as God warned. Interestingly, the blood that God required them to apply then was the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb.

As believers in Messiah, we are blessed to have the blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, applied upon the doorposts of our hearts. The judgment we deserve has passed over us! And thankfully we can celebrate His redemption in our lives as well this season.

While this is a special time to celebrate God’s passing over our sins, there is one thing we sometimes overlook. Not only should we remember the Lord’s passing over our sins, but equally important is our obedience in passing over others’ sins. Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. This is the way Jesus taught us to pray, is it not? Today we have the opportunity to make this prayer a reality in our lives.

Has someone offended you? Committed a sin against you? It happens, and unfortunately, it will probably happen again, as we live in a world full of sin. But we need to pass over those offenses just as God has passed over ours.

Passover is the season to give our hurts to the Lord. Let’s allow Him to heal and free us, and those we’ve hurt and who’ve hurt us. We have been forgiven many offenses by the innocent blood of our Messiah. How much more should we forgive?

Tonight begins Pesach (Passover). Every 10th of Nisan, four days before Pesach, the children of Israel would choose a lamb for Passover. Each man would take a lamb for his household; It would take four days to inspect it to make sure it was perfect and without blemish for the sacrifice.

Can you imagine having a lamb at home for four days — the children feeding it, petting it, perhaps even naming it — only to know that it would have to die soon?

We also have a Lamb to choose today. Jesus, our perfect Passover lamb who is without blemish. Some of us reading this today may already have chosen Him. Some of us may have forgotten of our choice, and yet some may be undecided. But regardless of where you stand, now is the time to make a choice for Him.

Today is the day of salvation and to remember the great work of atonement which brought us out of bondage from Egypt (both physical and spiritual). Let’s make today a special day in our hearts to allow the Lamb of God come and do a new work of holiness in us. There’s so much work to be done!

Charles Swindoll wrote about these men who bring in animals from Africa for American zoos. They say that one of the hardest animals to catch there is the ring tailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years.

The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

There’s a pretty clear moral to this story, wouldn’t you say? If we really want to be free, we must let go of the things we love. The more we hold on to our earthly possessions, the more frustrated we will get and eventually, we will be entrapped.

Let’s let go of the worldly things we’ve been holding on to. God has much greater things for us to be doing than sitting here with our fists in a melon!

Last night my wife had a dream that we were in a pool of water surrounded by walls with no where to get out. To make matters worse, we were in there with two hungry and vicious sharks. Somehow, the only other thing we had were two little baskets of strawberries. As the sharks would come our way, we’d throw a strawberry in the other direction and the sharks would dive in to devour it. Just as our strawberries were running out, she woke up in a sweat.

When we mentioned this dream to an Israeli friend of ours, she said, “Two good things I see about that dream — God provided you with fruit to ward off the devourers and — you woke up!

If you’re feeling trapped and surrounded at every side today, be encouraged! God has given us the Fruit of His Spirit to come against the enemy of our souls. He will never give us more than we can handle and He’ll always provide us with a way out!

At any time, how receptive your heart is will determine your response to God’s word. If your heart has been trampled, and harden by bitterness and unforgiveness, then receiving God’s message for you will become more difficult. If your heart is like shallow soil on top of a rock, then your mind comprehends God’s truths, yet these truths do not penetrate your heart to make a real difference in your actions. Or if you are concerned about the riches of this life, then your focus is on the here and now, and these pursuits prevent God’s Word from taking hold and producing quality fruit. But a heart that is on good soil, receives the Word, applies the Word, and in due time bring forth abundant fruit! This is God’s desire for you — to have a heart cultivated on good soil!

How do you cultivate a heart on good soil? Repent of any bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, or any other sin that is hardening your heart! Seek the power of God to search your heart thoroughly and completely to root out all the weeds that hinder cultivating good soil. Cultivating good soil is a daily task — weeds spring up out of nowhere to hinder our growth. But , you are not ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11). So break up your fallow ground, sow yourself in His righteousness, and soon you will bring forth abundant fruit fit for the kingdom!

Cultivate your life in Him — and He will produce His fruit through you!

The Greek word ‘aphesis’ means forgiveness. But in this particular verse it’s translated as both deliverance and liberty. Isn’t it interesting that deliverance and liberty are directly tied together with forgiveness?

One of the most effective tools the enemy uses to steal our joy is unforgiveness. With just a little foothold of unforgiveness in our lives, we can easily become bound with chains of bitterness, resentment, anger and rage. If we let that foothold linger without dealing with it, eventually it will lead to our own self-destruction.

Let’s not let the unrighteous actions of others toward us become a stumbling block in our walk. We have been forgiven much and in the same way, we must release those who’ve hurt us to the Lord. But when we release them, I think we’ll find that the person we’ll really be releasing is ourselves!

The enemy has only come to lie to us, kill and destroy us. The rejection we receive is ultimately from him — the person who outwardly does the rejecting is merely a pawn in his game. That rejection is a lie! Over time we begin to believe that lie until it finally becomes truth in our hearts. We can live a lifetime believing that lie. We can spend years and years covering for it as we talked about yesterday, with pride, fear and rebellion. And these build walls — walls that imprison us — and isolate us from the ones we love.

Here is step two in getting free. We must refuse those truths that our enemy instilled in us. We must do the rejecting now! And then choose to believe God’s truths about us. That we are loved, protected, healed — blessed in every way.

This is a walk of faith. Let’s ask the Lord again to reveal what we need to know in order to be truly free.

It’s good to bring those things in our lives, which are hidden in the darkness, to the light. Many times we are slaves to them and we don’t even realize it! We will go through a few devotions on this topic this week. God wants us to be free, so that we can be available for Him!

Pride, rebellion, and fear — these are three things we have all struggled with — no matter how mature we are in age or faith. Why is that?

Rejection. Our friends have experienced it. Our families have experienced it. We, and all mankind have experienced it. It makes us feel hopeless and worthless — And our tendency as humans is to overcompensate for these feelings by behaving in one or all of the three ways above.

The first step in getting free is to realize that God is our defense in everything we have endured and will endure. He has always been our defense. And it is our decision whether or not to call upon His Name in our time of need and allow Him to arise and demonstrate His great power.

Let’s pray and ask the Lord to reveal any old wounds of rejection that have been covered over by years of pride or fear or rebellion and let’s ask Him to forgive us for not allowing Him to defend us in those areas. May we begin to experience God’s wonderful freedom even as we pray.

Our little Elianna, now almost three, loves flowers. Every time she sees one, she has to get down and take a whiff. It’s so adorable.

Did you know that back in the days of the Roman Empire fragrances were all the rage? They would celebrate their victories with huge parades and burn incense on the altars, which would fill the entire city with its sweet-scented aroma. Even those who could not be part of the celebration would smell the incense from afar and know their army had been victorious!

This is the very effect we should have on the world around us. Our lives should be burning the sweet smell of righteousness, holiness, love, and victory! Our fragrance should be so strong that people can smell it from afar and know that we are victorious in every circumstance through the atoning work God has already done!

Let’s get on fire for Him again today! The world is hungry! Smelling that delicious aroma will get them motivated to grab a bite! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there’s so much work to be done!