Fully Devoted

Shalom, Shalom!

First of all I just want to say that we are having a blast! Even though it is hot and the humidity the last two days has been high, there's no place any one of us would rather be!  Oh, what a blessing! It has been such a sweet time of teaching, fellowship and the Presence of the Spirit is amazing. Ronen is a fabulous tour guide. Mark has been a great teacher!  Again, things we've heard all our lives have come alive as we have sat onsite trying to take it all in. The sounds, the smells, what we see and hear helps to give understanding that only can happen here. It's like trying to drink from a firehose. We are trying to gulp every drop and not miss a thing! We hope this blog makes you thirsty to come here and drink!

Our day began at 5:45am as we walked down to the Sea of Galilee to "Mikvah".  Our theme today has been "FULLY DEVOTED". There are paths of righteousness that God has instructed us to follow. It is so easy to get off the path. Like sheep we all have gone astray, sometimes unknowingly and sometimes in full rebellion even after we are saved.  God, through the Holy Spirit, is constantly calling us back to the path. This is what Mikvah is. Getting back on the path.....all in, wholly devoted, with ALL our head (thoughts), heart (our will), hands (what we do) and feet (where we go). Each of us privately, before God, 'washed' willingly in the Sea of Galilee committing this day to walk wholly devoted.

First stop:  Gamla-  Acts 5:35-37, Mt 9:35. The zealots lived here. They had an extreme passion for God  called "kanah" and His kingdom. They opposed anything Roman. God looks for people with Kanah; however, God wants passionate people who are yielded to Him and His ways. The zealots followed God BUT wanted to follow Him on 'their own terms'. Anyone who didn't agree with them, they killed with a short sword called a sicari. They fortified their walls but left one small area weak which led to their destruction. Even little sins (maybe thoughts) can take us down if we are not careful and wholly yielded to God. Even Peter was a zealot. When they arrested Jesus, what did he do but whip out his sword and lop off an ear! Jesus said NO! My kingdom comes through loving others, even our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. What starts in the mind ends up in our actions. We need surrendered MINDS to His paths! All too often I'm afraid our actions sing loudly, with passion, "I did it my way" with Frank Sinatra. May we repent returning to God's path. 

Next stop:  Katzrin. What fun! We dressed in the time period and walked through what it would have been like to live in the first century. We thrashed our own wheat, ground it into flour and baked our own bread. When we walked into the dark reconstructed home, Ronan lit a small oil lamp, putting it on a stand. Once again the Bible story came alive..  Also the stone floor in the dirt, with crevices caused us to imagine how hard it was to find a lost coin!  Mark taught us to love with our HANDS from Mark 2:1-12 as he explained the friends digging through the roof and bringing the paralytic to Jesus. Remember, God wants to partner with us to bring peace to the chaos. May we use our hands to find and bring the hurting to Jesus no matter how hard it is even when we have to "dig through the roof".

Next:  Dan  You can probably guess this site exposed and challenged our HEARTS. This is where they loved God but again wanted to worship at their convenience; hence, the king made 2 golden calves and put one of them at Dan and the other at Bethel. They were supposed to worship where God had chosen and were to go to Jerusalem. The King of the Northern Kingdom changed the time and changed the place to Dan also adding their own idol. To them it wasn't convenient to obey as God had prescribed. 1 Ki 12:25-33 reminds us to seek God's counsel, not our own and be careful who you seek counsel from. Dan was destroyed and is not even mentioned in Revelation. We must choose His will over our own heart's desire. Also here we were challenged to invest well into the next generation.  Moses' grandson, Jonathan (See Judges 18:30) and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan. We must be intentional to train our families well, passing along to our children and grandchildren what God has said not only in our words but modeling it before them. May our hearts be fully devoted until we breathe our last breath.

Our last stop was Caesarea Phillipi. Here we saw the 'gates of hell' as we observed the huge opening in the cliffside. The culture worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth, the god and goddess of fertility. There were ruins of a temple of Agustus, of Pan, and of Zeus. Sexual immorality was the norm, and expected to please the gods and to bring the rains.  There is so much more to this story but not enough time! Jesus told his disciples, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Byzantines literally took him at his word and just within the last year ruins were found of their church there!  We are not to isolate but to live boldly and proclaim that Jesus is the Living God.  C.S. Lewis said, "If I get his feet, I get the rest of him as well." May we not be ashamed but live boldly with our FEET fully devoted going even into the hard places carrying the Light of the world to bring true peace into their chaos. May His Kingdom come.

Keep reading and praying for us. Tomorrow we move to Jerusalem. Thank you! Grace and peace to each of you!

BEVERLY 

John 15:16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts.