Snare

This is from the blog Daily Meditation:

Ezekiel 12:13: And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there.

The theme of the snare runs through the bible. In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve fell into the deceptive trap of the devil (Genesis 3). The serpent approached Eve with a proposition, acting as if he was only looking out for her best interest, but it was a trap, a distraction from the will of God.

People around us come with similar propositions, they seems to have your best intention in mind. They may even mean well, not knowing their advice if taken would be nothing more than a major distraction from the will of God, from the best of God.

During the time Job was down and seemingly out with many troubles (Job 2:5, 9), his wife told him to curse God and if he was struck by him in judgment of death (showing her jaundiced view of God) them he will die and he will be free from pain. His wife wanted the best for him, but her definition of the best was short-sighted at best and satanically inspired at worst.

It will like cutting your nose to spite your face. It will like cutting off the head to solve an headache problem. In the confusion of his difficulties, to a lesser man that proposition would have been appealing. But Job said that even if God strikes him he will still trust (Job 13:15). He did not bite that bait; on that snare, he passed.

David wrote about the snare of the fowler (Psalm 91:3). In the snare, the benefit is presented while the danger is hidden, like the fine print, too fine to be see, and the smooth talker trying to sell you a broken down vehicle.

Before you take an advice check in your heart, and ask yourself what God is saying? Because something is appealing does not mean it is good. Because something glitters does not mean it is gold. Because everyone is doing it does not means you should. Because it is the fad does not mean you should tag along. You are not a photocopy. you are an original.

Anything that pulls you away from the will of God is a snare, it doesn’t matter how it is presented. Paul said that Demas departed from him having loved this world (2Timothy 4:10). Demas was trapped by the love of the world (1John 2:15-17), as he was distracted from being part of Paul’s ministry team.

When Jesus told the disciples that he would soon be hung on the cross, Peter thought he was taking things too far and told him to perish the thought (Mark 8:31-33). But Jesus rebuked him, saying: get behind me Satan, you are not after the will of God but self-will.

Abraham experienced a snare from his wife Sarah, she gave him the suggestion the way out of their childlessness that he should sleep with their Egyptian maid (Genesis 16:1-9, 21:8-15). It sounded cool, culturally acceptable, and naturally sensible.

But that was the end to the peace in his household. First the pregnant Hagar acted up against Sarah, and after Ishmael (standing for the self-will of Abraham) was born, about a decade later Isaac (standing for the will of God, the word of God, the promise) was born. And Ishmael (self-will) became a threat to Isaac (God’s will), mocking him. So Abraham had to die to his own will. He had to chase Ishmael away. And it was painful for him to do that. That was the cross he had to carry, he had to die to self-will to be able to elevate the will of God to its place of preeminent. But what was meant to be a means for him to have children turned out to be a snare. On the long run, Ishmael did nothing but complicate Abraham’s life. Self-will always does that. It is a trap.

For David, Bathsheba was a snare. It was supposed to be an unannounced adulterous event, but it made him a bull’s-eye for God’s judgment (2Samuel 11). Same with Adam and Eve. What was sold to them as a good thing, eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, made them enter into the judgment of death. If that was not a trap, then nothing else is.

The temptations of Jesus by the devil were snares. He told him, bow down and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Luke 4:1-13). Jesus did not yield. He was able to judge the situation correctly, and dodge the satanic snare. Paul said: we should not give any foothold to the devil, lest he takes advantage of us (2Corinthians 2:11).

Because what you want is being offered does not mean you should take it, it may come with strings attached.

When Pharaoh first agreed to let the children of Israel go, to worship God in the wilderness (Exodus 10:8-11, 24, 12:31), he gave some conditions. He said they should not take their children with them, or that they should leave their cattle.

But Moses refused, he had his eyes on the will of God, which is full freedom for the children of Israel, just as He spoke to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-16), that his children will be enslaved in a foreign land and by the supernatural hand of God, they will released after 400 years in the land.

The will of God is freedom, total freedom, because to the limit that we are free from anything else is the limit is the limit we can serve God. Therefore God sent Moses with a message to Pharaoh: let my people go that they may serve me.

God does not want anything holding you down, no ideology, no sentiment, no sin. The book of Hebrews teaches that we should lay aside every weight and sin which doth easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Paul said he was careful so that after he had preached to others he will not be a cast away, having been snared (1Corinthians 9:27). He doesn’t not want anything holding him back from the fullness of God, and he wants the same thing for those he wrote to.

He doesn’t want them snared, he doesn’t want their affection taken over by anything/one else but Christ, knowing that any attachment other than to him is a trap in disguise.

Jesus and Paul warned about the trap of money. Jesus said we cannot serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24), we cannot serve two masters, we cannot swear allegiance to Mammon and God at the same time. Attachment to money is a distraction from God. Paul said that the love of money is the root of all evil (1Tiimothy 6:10).

That was Judas’ undoing. He was in charge of the money bag for the twelve and Jesus (John 12:1-6). He stole some of it. He sought to get money by selling Jesus out (Matthew 26:15), fully entrapped by money.

And later he killed himself, racked by guilt for betraying Jesus. Suicide is indicative of a man in a snare. Ditto depression. In a snare you do not see a way out, seeing everything from the fulcrum of your pain or even need.

Negatives habits are snares, they are shackles that we should be free from. Because Jesus was free, he can help us to be free. He said that the enemy came to him and found nothing in him (John 14:30). He was free from all satanic entanglements, of the mind, spirit and body.

So because Jesus is free we are also free, because he is truth and when we grow in his knowledge we grow in freedom. Understand that the “truth” that does not lead you to more freedom is a lie, is a snare.

Prophetic Warning - Don't birth an Ishmael

The Wood, the Fire and the Knife: between Isaac and Jesus

This is from the blog Daily Meditation:

Genesis 22:6:  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them together.

Abraham sacrificed his son in a prophetic act (which he may not be aware of) for what God would do with his own Son, Jesus.

While the two of them (Abraham and Isaac) were going along the way (Abraham going to sacrifice Isaacin obedience to God and Isaac with the wrong notion); they had three things with them:  wood, fire and knife (Genesis 22:1-19).

Wood

Abraham took the wood and laid it on Isaac. That was exactly what happened with Jesus. He had the wooden cross on which he was going to be crucified laid on him (Luke 22-23). (Isaac was also laid on the wood, but Abraham was prevented from going through with cutting up his throat by God.)

I imagine that Jesus going along the road to the place of the crucifixion with the wood of the cross is to construct the bridge that links heaven to earth.

I’ll explain.

While Jesus Christ was talking with Nathaniel the first chapter of the book of John, he told him that he would see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man (John 1:44-51), referring to himself.

That was a direct reference to what Jacob saw in his dream, while on the run from his brother, Esau (Genesis 28). He stopped at a place, placed his head on a stone and dreamt of heaven opening and the angel of God ascending and descending on a ladder set up to heaven. And Jesus’ effort on the cross, reached heaven and linked it to earth.

From his words to Nathaniel, Jesus was communicating that he is the ladder that links heaven to earth. That wood of the cross, that Jesus carried to Golgotha stands for Jesus linking heaven to earth. The cross stands for his death and in his death, he bridged the gap between God and man, and reconciliation with God is now preached in his name (2 Corinthians 5:14-21) to all nations.

That wood/cross touched the earth and was the channel of his blood flowing to the earth. He is the one from heaven and His blood flowed from that wood and was released to the earth.

That wood also stands for a tree- Jesus is the tree of life. He is the source of life. That is his spiritual description (James 1:1-5, 1John 5:10-13). We read that the life of a person is represented by the blood (Deuteronomy 12:23), as the blood of Jesus flows, his life flows. As the tree of life, the blood that flows from him releases his life to us, as we embrace that reality by faith.

That is why when Paul said he does not want to know anything among the Corinthians except Christ and him crucified (2Corinthians 2:1-9, Galatians 6:14-18, 1Corinthians 1:18-31).

He also said that through the cross the world is crucified to him and he to the world i.e. he is dead to the world and the world is dead to him. That is a separation; the world is separated from him and him from the world. He becomes a man set apart. And the sacrifice of Jesus impacts us that deeply.

The cross sent Jesus out of the world, making him otherworldly; the same with us in our identification with the cross of Jesus.

Paul said that his preaching of the cross is the dividing line (separation point akin to death) because until you see your sin in the light of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ had to pay to redeemed you from its consequences and influence, it is then you will respond in full devotion and appreciation to him.

Not seeing the cross accurately is the making of lukewarm Christians, with mixed up identity, mixed with the world. They are not dead to the world, neither the world to them? We need the restoration of the preaching of the cross: the implication of it and its demand, which is that each one of us is called to carry her cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

Fire

Fire is a natural phenomenon and it is a necessity when the focus is a burnt offering.

Fire also stands as a symbol of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), both for judgment and for empowerment. It is written that God makes his ministers flames of fire (Hebrews 1:7), empowers then with the fire from the presence of God.

We read that Jesus Christ offered himself to God by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14) to God. The offering of Jesus was through the Holy Spirit.

And it is the fire that same he releases to us, to bring us the reality of the truth that is in him: the presence of the Holy Spirit applies the work of Jesus on the cross into our life, saving us; as it is written that if any does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9).

The fire is a necessary part of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, as a symbol of total commitment and devotion. When God gave Jericho into the hands of the children of Israel, he warned that the whole of it should be dedicated to him (Joshua 6:1-26); no one should keep any part of it (gold silver and bronze metal should be put in the treasury of the Lord). The whole place is to be burnt with fire, in total concentration to God.

Paul has as his aim in ministry that he would offer to God the offering of the gentiles sanctified by the Holy Spirit (he wrote that to the Roman Christian). What he meant, at least partly, was that the impact of his ministry among the gentiles should result in those under his ministry to have absolute devotion to God (Romans 15:15-16).

Earlier, he had written to the same group of Christians, pleading with them to present their bodies, living sacrifices (perpetually on fire), holy and acceptable to God being their reasonable service (Romans 12:1-2). Being a living sacrifice means a total devotion of the will, mind and body to God, totally committed to his will. They would not be conformed to this world but be transformed through the fire of devotion to always be sensitive to the will of God.

Because of the total commitment that being hung on the tree was for Jesus, the same is demanded in those who come to God through him, enjoying the benefit of his sacrifice having their sins forgiven. As it is written, he that is forgiven much loves much, i.e. she is devoted more (Luke 7:44-50).

The bible admonished that we should share the mind that Christ has (Philippians 2: 4-11), in total commitment to the will for God. He is our examples and we are meant to follow in his steps.

Knife

Before the fire is applied, there has to be the knife applied to the neck of the sacrificial lamb?

The knife to the neck is the act of men through whom the pain of death comes.

For Jesus, it starts with Judas. Jesus Christ has said that though he is going to die, woe to the person through whom it would happen (Matthew 26:24). Also, there is the religious hierarchy who actually seized him and handed him over to the Roman authority; and lastly Pilate.

The wife of Pilate had a dream on the night before the sentencing of Jesus from which she told her husband not to have anything to do with Jesus.

The innocence of Jesus had been confirmed over and over. But eventually the people said they wanted the criminal Barabbas freed and Jesus to be crucified. He was crucified by popular demand of the crowd whipped into a state of frenzy by the Pharisees.

While Jesus hung on the cross, he said that God should release forgiveness, as his last wish before his death, to everyone responsible for his death. He holds no grudge against those who put the knife to his neck, figuratively.

Also in our lives many people would do things to us, we would go through the fiery furnace of affliction an as a direct effect of people’s action to us (or inaction).

That happened to the apostles. When two of them were flogged, they rejoiced that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ (Acts 5:40-42). James says that we should count it all joy when we fall into various trials (James 1:1-7).

Virtually all trials are like the knives put on the flesh of our neck through the hand of men. It is therefore an opportunity to die to the flesh. Paul says I die daily (1Corinthians 15:30-34). That is not a tea party at all. He said he fought with beasts in Ephesus and his life is constantly in danger.

Conclusion

In my analysis of the components of the sacrifice of Jesus (taking a cue from Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac), I have sought to relate it to our individual lives.

In the wood, we receive the lesson of carrying our cross daily, in the fire we are to offer ourselves to God in total devotion and in the knife we are to face difficulties from the hand of men with equanimity declaring your faith even in God who raise Jesus from the dead (Colossians 2:11-12). This is so that we might experience in our life his resurrection just like Paul wanted: to attain to the resurrection from the death.

Sometimes we are to apply the knife to our own neck, in self denial and discipline. In the book of Proverbs we are told that when we are before a ruler we should put the knife to one’s own throat in a symbolic sense, representing self-restraint.

Self-restrain and denial is the gate to experiencing the resurrection life of God.

The fire also has something to do with you as a symbol of the consecrated life; our life must be run on the dictate and agenda of God, down to the minutest details: everything on fire.

And the cross is another symbol of devotion but the focus is on what you deny yourself of, devolve yourself from, while the fire is also a symbol of devotion, it is however focused on  what you commit yourself in to as in God, in devotion, the thing you are doing, where you are going.

Egypt is Burning

Yesterday I hitchhiked from Jackson, Wyoming to Bozeman to Columbus, Montana. I got some fast rides; the Presence of God was very strong all day. Last night I slept on a stack of lumber at the Timberweld place in Columbus. While I was laying in my sleeping bag, I began to compose "Egypt is Burning" in my mind. This morning I finished composing the poem at the McDonald's here in Columbus.

_____


Egypt is Burning
By Tim Shey

Sons of Ishmael,
The Scriptures have come full circle.
The angel of the Lord said
He would be a wild man.
Abraham's firstborn was Isaac.
Mount Moriah pointed towards Calvary.

Malachi said:
Was not Esau Jacob's brother?
The Lord said:
Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.
Cain murdered Abel;
Joseph was hated by his brothers.
Jesus was killed
In the house of his friends.
Hagar's offspring mocks
The Messiah to this day.

Egypt is burning.
Isaiah walks naked among you.
Your sin and rebellion is
Broadcast twenty-four seven
On FOX and CNN.

Israel is no longer Jacob:
He has power
With God and men.
Who can resist God's will?

The Lord is transforming
The bloody Middle East.
Shiloh is here in power:
He couches as an old lion.
The Tribe of Judah
Rules in Zion.
The City of David
Is a state of rest:
The Book of Hebrews, Chapter Four.
Those who abide in Him
Are already in New Jeru-Salem.
All you have to do
Is meditate on Genesis 49: 10.

Who is this
That cometh from Edom?
His Cross is splattered in red.
Egypt is burning.
I will tread them
In mine anger.
Egypt is burning.
The handmaid despised Sarai.
Egypt is burning.
Do not reject
His Precious Blood.
Egypt is burning.

-

Genesis 49: 10
Islam is Slavery
Bereshith 
A Dream About Egypt

Abraham from Macedonia - Hitchhiking in Nevada

Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
27 March 2008

This morning I walked around five miles east on I-80 and finally got a ride to Fernley, Nevada with a Christian. I was broke, so he gave me a ton of change—nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies—and I got a couple of sandwiches and something to drink in Fernley. From there I walked two or three miles and got a ride with a truck driver named Abraham. We had a great talk. Abraham was originally from Macedonia. He has been in the United States for eight years. He asked me a lot of questions about my Christian faith. Abraham told me that he was a Muslim. We talked a lot about Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.

I told him that it was important to know that Isaac was the son of promise (faith) and that Ishmael was the son of the flesh (non-faith). The Messianic Line came through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Twelve Patriarchs. Abraham (the Macedonian) was very receptive as I spoke to him about having faith in Christ; how His blood cleanses us from sin and that the Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom. I wanted to tell Abraham that he was not far from the Kingdom. It was a very edifying conversation and I am very grateful to the Lord that Abraham gave me a ride. He dropped me off here in Winnemucca and was going to take his tractor-trailer all the way to Lewiston, Idaho.