Surrender to God – Raising the white flag? Or Love making at the highest level?

For many people, the word Surrender is fraught with emotion and meaning. In the military it means raising a white flag. For abuse victims it means letting abuse happen. No one wants that!

So, when faced, in the midst of faith and Scripture, with the admonition to submit or surrender to God, we are often left with repulsion! Never! Would we “raise the white flag”, let abuse happen! And rightly so!

In both cases tho, the surrender demanded is in a framework of “control over” and domination. The act of war is one of exerting power over another country or group of people right? And certainly, most abusers don’t do so just because of the purely physical feeling… they do so because the power over another gives them a very sick joy. It’s always about dominion over another person…..

But God… But Abba isn’t about power over. Messiah isn’t about control. He gives us the right to choose, in all things. Choice and Surrender go hand in hand.

In His love for us he has given us free will choice. Period. Full stop.
Let that sink in.

Let it be personal.
Our Creator, Lord and Redeemer is NOT every going to exert “power over” you. He’s never going to demand and then force you to do something you don’t want to do. He’s never going to drag you kicking and screaming. He’s never going to annihilate your defenses as an act of war. NEVER. He gives EVERY person the free will choice and he doesn’t take that free will choice away… You have the right to choose. You have the right to your own person. You have the right to own your choices and the consequences of them.

Bottom line – God – Abba – Father – Yehovah – Jesus – The Spirit – Yeshua – The Ruach… THEY WILL NOT FORCE YOU. There is no power over, there is no dominion. There is only free will choice.

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So, why would we choose to surrender to Him?

Because. Love.

There’s a really simple math equation in Scripture:

God is Love – 1 John 4:8

Love is… – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Therefore it follows that

God is patient, towards you (——-insert your name here——).
Father is kind to you.
Our Creator does not envy,
He will not boast, (Nor gloat about His Power over you )
He is not proud.
Abba does not dishonor others – He will not be rude nor selfish in how He treats you personally. He is not self-seeking, He seeks your best good first.
Yehovah is not easily angered, and especially not towards you!
Almighty God keeps no record of wrongs. (Read that again.. Read it a hundred times… let it sink in… God keeps no record of wrongs.)
God who is Love, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Father God always protects,
He always trusts – your heart towards him.
He always hopes – the very best for you.
He always perseveres. He endures. He always loves you, regardless of your choices.
Love – God, He never fails. Father will NEVER fail you.

Truly, this is the simple equation of Scripture. God is Love – Love is defined in 1 Cor 13 very succinctly. Therefore God embodies 1 Cor 13 in his thoughts, actions and deeds toward us, His precious creation.

If this isn’t an equation you’ve deeply settled into, that has transformed your thinking of who Abba is and who you are in relationship to Him, I encourage you to meditate on this equation and deeply settle into it. Take the next month to write these verses daily. Write them as Love is… Write them as God is… Write them as God’s heart and actions towards you, personally! Put your name in there! …. Let the words sink deep into your soul and psyche.

You can not even begin to surrender if in any way you believe that Abba is about control and power over. It isn’t until your heart understands completely that Abba is LOVE, and LOVE is the opposite of control, that you will be open to surrender…

I was recently asked about my thoughts on surrender. But I can’t even discuss surrender until the above framework is laid. Surrender to God is NOT surrendering to a “Power over/Dominion”… it is surrendering to a Being who is the very essence of Love.

I took 1 Cor 13 into my being in my junior year of high school. I was practicing calligraphy at the time and wrote it many times over in that process. It changed the way I saw God, and myself. It’s the framework for my surrender.

I know I’m loved. I know I’m in a relationship with a very loving God. I know he wants the best for me. I know he doesn’t rejoice in my downfall or in evil which I may participate in. I know he won’t ever stop loving me.

A relationship of love gives us the freedom to feel safe and not feel like we have to have our defenses up against being hurt. We can trust that He won’t hurt us. And in that relationship we can surrender….

Let’s look at this in the most intimate setting possible within human relationships for a better understanding of surrender in the midst of love..

My beloved and I – We are married.
We make love. When we make love, we stay present in the moment. We don’t worry for tomorrow. We don’t think over our to do lists. We don’t fear that we will be harmed in the process of making love… because we have developed a relationship of love and kindness – right?
So, in the act of love making, we surrender one to another. He surrenders to me… I surrender to him. I don’t control how he orgasms, or when, nor do I control myself in how or when I orgasm… I stay in the moment, I stay surrendered to being loved, fully and completely. I stay surrendered to loving him, fully and completely… and in that surrender, in that mutual loving – release, beauty, and orgasmic love follow..
We become truly one. We lay entwined, breathless, and one flesh.

This… THIS is surrender to Father.
He wants just as intimate a relationship with us, on the level of the Spirit. Surrender is merely an act of love, of love making, to our Redeemer who is Love.

So, for instance… My Beloved says to me, “Sweetheart, I’d like you to set aside this specific day to take time away from the world and spend it with me. I’d like to have an early breakfast, go hiking someplace spectacular and then come home and make love.”

I don’t whine and tell him another day is better. I don’t fuss about what he’s going to make me for breakfast. I don’t show up for a hike wearing heels… I submit/surrender to his wishes and get up early with him, delight in the meal he prepares, put on my hiking boots (and a lacy pair of undies beneath my jeans) and off we go… During the day we flirt and caress and when we get home we make love.

In the same way, for me, when Abba says, “Hey Misty, I’d like you to take this day and rest. Take a day away from the world, come commune with me, spend time, go out in nature and enjoy what I’ve created for you, let’s have fun, and flirt and caress and enjoy our union – You in me, I in you.”

When he says that, I say, “Great! Let’s do it.” I don’t wine and moan, I don’t argue, I walk in obedience… WILLINGLY. I choose to be in this relationship. I choose to trust him…

So…. Surrender is as simple as Talking to God, Choosing to Trust Him to work it out, Choosing to walk in peace.

It’s born out of a place of Love. Abundant, never ending, Love.

That said.. there are times He asks hard things of us. He may even strip us of our security measures… We may feel like we have nothing safe to hold onto, like we are on a precipice, can’t see and have no guardrails (I hit that place a few years ago)…
But, I had the Rock beneath me, and I just needed to sit down. 😉

Anything He asks from us, hard as it may be, is always for our good. It’s always for our healing. It’s always for our hearts to be more healed, more full, more blessed. Yeshua (Jesus) said he came to heal our wounds, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to give us Abundant Life! So when he asks us to give something up, or asks us to face hard things, etc… The end goal is healing, liberty, Abundant Life.

We’ve been taught, by the church, that Hell is a place to be feared. That fire is bad. That being consumed is awful…

But God…

But Father is “an all consuming fire”.
But our enemy, before he was cast down, “was on the holy mountain of God, walking back and forth amongst stones of fire.” (Ezekiel 28:14)
But David asked, in the Psalms, “Who may walk on your Holy Hill? And answered – He who has clean hands and a pure heart”
But Father says He will try us as gold, as a refiner deals with silver…

What if the fire of ABBA’s refining is not to be feared? What if it’s how he cleanses us, and consumes all the pain, selfishness, unloving ways of thinking within us, little by little? What if we are brought so close to Him that we literally walk on HIs Holy Hill, amongst the fiery stones.. without being consumed? What if it’s merely a process of Him giving us a hug, and us being brought closer and closer to the depths of his heart, with our dross and our character flaws being consumed – cleansed a bit at a time, lovingly and without shame? What if we choose this???

And, What if all Hell is deep in the heart of God, where all sin is consumed… and what if when those who are destroyed there are so full of sin, are so full of hatred, control, etc that they literally choose to be no more rather than enter into a loving relationship with God?

Whether that’s what Hell is or not is still to be seen…
What I do know is, he is a refining fire, and his fire has a name. That name is Love. It’s the passion that burns between lovers. It’s the draw to be one’s best self. It’s the thing that we stand in front of, and gently submit to. It’s the Lover that slowly disrobes us, with kisses and caresses, and kindness… and then takes us to the bath or shower to be clean…
That’s what His love does. That’s what his fire does.

And that’s why it’s okay to surrender to stepping into hard things. Because in facing hard things, we are being held more and more closely to the heart of a loving, passionate God. We are being made one with the maker of the world in the most epic act of lovemaking ever seen in the universe. This is surrender.

Peace in the Reckless Raging Unanswered

Hearts in the sand, footprints too

Gulls and Pipers scatter

Then return seeking tasty bits amongst the seaweed.

In the moment little clam shells burrow quickly.

Feet covered in frothy surf

Foundation flows away and the mole crab dives deeper beneath my feet. V’s appear betraying the antenna of life below the surface.

Waves crash and remind me of the relentless question. Father what next? Where should I be? My heart, it needs you,

the assurance of arms, space, answers, just to be, rest, so much…

No answers

just a lingering open question, an ache and longing.

Head on the sand, body too

Wind and waves caressing shore, their ebb and flow, their constance reminds me to stay,

in the moment.

Moon glows round from behind the clouds

Skin covered in salty air

Foundation soft and sure I

Lie beyond the tide line, breathe in and out.

Distant lightning echoes passion in my heart deep below the surface.

Waves crash and remind me of the relentless question. Father what next? Where should I be? My heart, it needs you,

the assurance of arms, space, answers, just to be, rest, so much…

No answers just a lingering open question, an ache and longing.

Heart in my hand, worn shell too

A hole etched by waves

Bits broken by trauma larger than constant motion

In the moments

Of abuse; love lost; heartbreaking…

Cheeks covered in racing tears

Foundation moist but firm I

Promenade into the sea with my God

Sobs well up as I cast the shell, my broken heart below the surface.

“Of the reckless raging for fury that they called the love of God… Reckless raging Fury they call love ….the love of God.” ~ Rich Mullins

Waves crash and remind me of the relentless Father. Daughter what else, you’re here with me.

Your heart, it has mine,

assurance of my arms, oneness, questions.

Just to be, rest… Love.

No answers are okay. Cause I love open questions, your ache and longing…

Heart in My hands, your life too.

Love that’s reckless, raging, true.

So walk on my shores, rest on my beach, ride my waves.

Stay in the moment

Vulnerable, passionate one.

Your you, covered with my wings.

Foundation mighty and true

So yes! Do dive deeper in my ocean.

Live to the full, love with your all, out of my depths, below the surface.

Waves crash and remind me of the relentless question, Father what else?

I’m here, with you.

My heart, it has yours, assurance of Sukkot, oneness, questions… I’ll be, rest, love.

I’ll live with few answers, lingering open questions, ache and longing…

Heart in Your hands, my life too,

In the reckless raging fury they call Your Love.

Articles I’d like to Remember

Often I find articles that I’d love to remember, or read again… and sometimes a book mark them… Have you seen my book marks list?! Oh, Wow!

So… for those really really good ones that push me… I thought I’d create a blog post here.
First up is:

You Have To Love Someone Without Fear
by Kris Miller

Yehovah’s Date Days

Recently, I had the opportunity to write my personal summary of the beauty contained within Yehovah’s Date Days! Can’t wait till my next date day with Him!

The feasts are incredible prophecies, the spring feasts were fulfilled tho I’ve a hunch there is still a bit more to come as every feast had a now, intermediate, and long-term prophecy imbedded within it…, but the beauty is, observing Passover is the original “communionn service” and celebrating it as believer in Messiah is in direct obedience to Yeshua’s words.  There is no “animal sacrifice” saying His death didn’t occur – only bread, wine, food, celebration, and a remembering of him, broken for us.  The week of Unleavened Bread is an incredible reminder to eat only of His sinless life, to take in HIS word and remove all leaven from the soul food that we eat.  The feast of First fruits reminds us clearly that he was the FIRST fruit, raised from the dead…  Shavuot, or Pentecost, celebrated on the day the 10 commandments were given and many centuries later when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples reminds us that we are to worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.  This is the giving of the covenant, the marriage ketubah or contract! This is the Bride’s day to rejoice that her Husband, Yeshua has made a contract, a promise that He is and will keep!

The fall feasts on the other hand… Have yet to see their final fulfillment, tho they’ve had intermediate fulfillments already.   The Day of Trumpets announcing “The Bridegroom Cometh!”, based on the word of Two Witnesses. The people, coming out of their fields of harvest, washing and putting on their prior prepared white linen robes to Sound the Shofar and announce the coming of judgment and the bridegroom.  The 10 days of awe between Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and Atonement, the time of asking, is there any sin remaining? Is there anything that stands between me and the Father reminds me of EGW’s words regarding this rending of soul by the saints…  Atonement – the judgement day. The day when the names are final in the book of life. The day when the Jubilee trumpet sounds and announces the Sabbath year, the millennium.  The day that the Sanctuary of our hearts is fully cleansed.  It’s an awesome, terrible, beautiful day of fasting and praising Father for the Gift of his Son who makes us all worthy, whose life and death mean our names are in His book!
And Feast of Tabernacles.. The feast of “and the Word became flesh and Tabernacled among us”. The feast that lasts 8 days, where temporary dwellings are built, and we look back to when He lived with us in the desert and we look forward to the time when He will live with us, Tabernacle with us, not only in our hearts, but with us bodily.

A Bride & Groom stand under a “Temporary Dwelling” called a Chuppah

 This is the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb” – This is the culmination of the incredible romance that He, Father God has called us into. This is the restoration of all things.  And there is this neat little ceremony, the Water Libation when they pray for the Latter Rain (part of the intermediate fulfillment)… Yeshua stood, in the temple, at the moment of silence before the water was poured on the altar, and defined what they were doing, when his voice rang out, “I am the living water!! If any man thirsts let him come to Me and Drink”.. John says he was talking about the Holy Spirit… the true latter rain!
No, These feasts in no way make naught out of the Life, Death, Resurrection and soon return of Messiah nor are they dead bones of false religion or a “to do list”, rather, they are living rehearsals, a live drama of the Plan of Salvation, of incredibly infinite good things to come, the substance of those things being Yeshua – and our relationship of intimacy with Him! For we who were once foreigners are now brought nigh into the commonwealth of Israel, into the marriage relationship Yehovah intended for us to have with Him.

As Paul said, “”For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:7-8, NIV).   YES! let us keep the feasts! Even the spring feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover. Not with a sacrifice, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with Sincerity and Truth!!
For He is our Passover Lamb, He is our First Fruits, He is our Husband and He has given a new covenant to write his Ketubah within our hearts!  He is the Bridegroom yet to return! He will judge the quick and the dead and the sons of men and He will welcome us to the Wedding supper of the Lamb!  HalleluYah!

 

For other posts from Beloved of YHVH about the Feasts of Yehovah, please follow this link:
https://shakamboqer.wordpress.com/category/our-creators-set-apart-days/

“Like a Machine”… He said

I take a somewhat unusual approach to dealing with the subject of the sex education with my children.  Yehovah told the Hebrew people that they were to read the entire Torah to the entire assembly – men, women & children, every 7 years.  What that means is by the time a child was 7 he would have heard the Torah at least once.  Given the rather graphic stories in Torah, and those instructions, I have to assume that Yehovah thought a child at age 7 was old enough to hear about the “birds & the bees” and a whole lot else!  My intent is not to teach them “thou shalt nots”  as a set of arbitrary rules, but to teach the reason why it’s a good idea to take a bath, eat clean meats, wait for the unity Yehovah has in mind for marriage before having sex.  I want them to see the heart of Yehovah full of love for his children.

So, we read the Torah together, following the Torah portion schedule.  We also read the NT, and from the rest of the OT, but, it’s usually the Torah portion that gets the most natural and appropriate questions.  Today, was Leviticus 15, which deals with cleanliness issues due to discharge – from a running nose, to seminal fluid, to menstruation.  It makes sense really – if you are puking, snotting all over the place, have blood oozing out of a sore – you don’t need to be going to the tabernacle to worship and fellowship.  Stay at home, take daily baths, get better.  Pretty common sense stuff really!

If you’re a man, and you ejaculate, and it’s on your sheets – wash yourself, you sheets and go to fellowship after you’ve bathed.   Also, lots of sense being made there!  I’ve already talked about Niddah in earlier posts, which you can follow the links to, so won’t reiterate here… Altho, I will say, we had a beautiful conversation about how Yehovah designed women, and what a special time Niddah is, and how they as men can respect and love the women in their lives thru it  (in a way that includes proper touch).

Point being – today, this turned to conversation about sex.  In fact, my oldest, as we were talking about Niddah, goes, “Oh, so if a husband and wife want to have a baby, then they need to have sex in the time before the Niddah, and a little while after, so there is a good layer of blood to take care of the baby with!” Yep, you got it kiddo!  🙂

But then he had a serious question, which I answered, about what is appropriate to talk about in public, and we discussed puberty (he’s almost 11), and wet dreams, and that none of these emissions we were reading about are “sin” – it’s just a matter of you need to take a shower afterwards, and wash your sheets regularly  🙂 .
Next we got to talking about how premarital sex can be painful – for the heart.  We were talking about unity in all things – heart, mind, soul and that Bodily Unity of intercourse is the final step.
He said, “Yeah, it’s like the key that locks it all in place.”
“Sorta” I replied, using interlocking fingers to demonstrate, “Once  there is unity in everything else, then yes, it locks everything and seals the union of husband and wife.”

I continued, “And,  if you have sex, before the other things are united, think about how that wouldn’t work!”  as I linked my two pinky fingers together as the locked key, and then tried to push my otherwise closed fist together.

Light dawning, “Yeah…. Like a machine that’s missing gear pieces… clunk dunk bing bang chunk” 

Yep.  Like that.  I think he’s got it.

 

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As a side note, because my almost 6 year old was needing to understand the terms semen, sperm, etc we also got out the beautiful book “From Conception to Birth” and looked at the pictures.  What a fun time, of them laughing about how the embryo looks like an alien to “Oh, He’s so cute!”  –  a perfectly forming little human, only 1/2  inch long.

 “Can you believe it?  Something so tiny, with a beating heart, and so cute and forming into a baby.  Now you  understand why it’s so important to take care of Momma, cause she has precious cargo held in her womb!”  

The look on the eldest’s face told me he got that too!