I like to Picture My Jesus in A Tuxedo T-Shirt

We all have our pet peeves. Mine include being touched, seeing the word “redneck” plastered on the windshield of a pickup, DVDs that don’t have English subtitles, Confederate flags, and people taking Slash’s side in the Guns n’ Roses split… I also have an irrational fear of grandfather clocks, but that’s neither here nor there.

The worst one though? The one that makes me madder than a hornet in a tornado? When someone tells me that they lost their faith in YHVH because He “didn’t answer my prayer”. What a load of bunk that is. I mean, really? So, because the Creator of all things had a better plan than what you had in mind, and because He didn’t work like a little genie good will vending machine taco stand Elohim, that MUST mean He doesn’t exist. What horrible reasoning! When did Yah become Santa Claus? What right do we have to put Him in a box and make Him bend to OUR will? Honestly, He doesn’t do that to us, and He very well could, why do we think we have the right to do that to Him? People’s arrogance never ceases to astound and stupefy me. I know I’m not a rocket scientist but come on!

I honestly believe that a lot of the problem stems from a misunderstanding of John 14:13-14:

 ¹³ In fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me for something in my name, I will do it.

Too many people read this out of context and think that Yeshua becomes the go to reference for what they need in their life. When we actually take a look at this verse in context, we see that Yeshua is telling us that what we need in the use of His ministry is what we should be asking for in the first place. Let’s take a look at another verse on prayer from His lips. The infamous, “Lord’s prayer” found in Mathew 6:

⁷ “And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ You, therefore, pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven!
    May your Name be kept holy.
¹⁰ May your Kingdom come,
    your will be done on earth as in heaven.

¹¹ Give us the food we need today.
¹² Forgive us what we have done wrong,
    as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
¹³ And do not lead us into hard testing,
    but keep us safe from the Evil One.
^[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.

Amen.’

I love this passage. I mean, look at the words our Messiah uses. From the get go He instructs us how we should come before the Father. First in reverence and respect, then in praise and exultation, then we come to Him with our requests. But notice something about the request segment? Not once does Yeshua give an example of coming to Abba with things for your personal glory or comfort. Every request our Meshiach makes of our Elohim is for YHVH’s glory and the things that are needed to carry on His work.

Invariably, we all come to some point in our life that we feel let down because YHVH isn’t granting our request that we feel is of the utmost importance. I personally spent quite a long time angry at YHVH because my wife and I tried so very hard to conceive. We lost two children before we even knew they were there. I couldn’t understand why Yah would not hear me. Why he wouldn’t heal my wife. Why He felt that we didn’t deserve to be parents. It hurt, and it still does in some ways. I, too, got hung up on the “why? Why won’t you answer my prayer?” nonsense. I was too blind to see that Yah had a different plan than mine and that I had no right to question what His will was. Imagine if Yah granted us everything we asked despite what’s best for our personal interest? I mean, Yeshua Himself pleaded with YHVH at least three times to avoid the crucifixion! Where would any of us be if Yah had been all like, “Well, I know that would be uncomfortable for you so I’m just gonna call the whole thing off and we can go out and get some tea. How’s that sound, son?”  For that matter, let’s take a look at part of Yeshua’s prayer in the garden.

⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.”- Luke 22:42

Hmmm… I can’t help but notice how this segment starts and ends… “If you are willing, let not my will but yours be done”. Kinda puts things in perspective, huh? Yeshua was about to face the harshest punishment and possibly the most painful form of execution ever,  and His thoughts were of the Father’s will. The dude was so stressed He was sweating blood, and STILL His prayer was for Abba’s glory before his own comfort.

So, I guess what I’m getting at is that things get hard, things don’t go the way we expect or want them to, but we have no right to deny Abba in the hard times. Our prayers should be like those of our Messiah. We should cling to Abba in the hardest of times. His plan and will is better than ours. His purpose is infinitely more important than our comfort or temporal satisfaction. It is nothing more than pure selfishness and the worst kind of self-idolization to think that because Yah doesn’t work the way we want Him to means He doesn’t exist. ‘Nuff said.

One Love,

Albert C. Coble

 

Peoples is Peoples

This past week was pretty rough.  When I sat down on Sat. the 13^th, I was greeted with the news that a musician I have a lot of respect for passed away. I know we see news of people, especially musicians, passing every day. The reason this one hit me so hard is because, along with many, many others, I had been praying for Chi for a long time. You see, Chi was in a car accident back in 2008 and was in a coma for three years. Around a year ago, he progressed to a semi conscience state and remained in that condition until his death. 

So many people where claiming complete healing in our Messiah’s name and I’m sure that they all expected it faithfully. Obviously, Yah’s plan was different from ours and Chi’s heart stopped early Saturday morning. I can only speculate from interviews I’ve read what his relationship with YHVH was, but I also know that Yah has reached people in much worse situations than being in a coma. While I am saddened by his loss, I know Yah’s will was done. So many people came together in prayer and support and fellowship. It will only be when we see the complete picture that we can see all the amazing things that Yah did through his life. 

So that brings me to Monday. I think it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I had no idea that anything had happened. My wife told me as soon as I walked in the door. I immediately grabbed my computer to follow the news as it was breaking.  My heart dropped to my stomach with the first photo I saw. So much destruction and needless loss of life. 

Then the fingers started pointing. Who should we blame? What are we going to do when we get our hands on them? The tragic answer to that came on Friday, when one of the bombers was killed in a shootout with police. The only difference was, when that news dropped what I saw and heard was people celebrating that the man “got what he deserved” and rejoicing in his death. That was the point when my heart broke.

 ^“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins.”-2 Peter 3:9

Now, before I go too far, let me just say that I think that justice was served in the case above. I do not think that it was in the least unjustified. What I am saying is that if the Lord YHVH doesn’t wish that any man perish, then why would we ever rejoice when they do? Every human being contains the breath of our Creator. When they are gone, every chance at redemption and His salvation are gone.

When we look through scripture we see countless examples of praising Yah for the removal of their enemies. In each case I’ve found, none of them ever seem to be celebrating the loss of life, rather the deliverance that Yah has given them. One of my favorite examples is the Song of Moses.

Then Moshe and the people of Isra’el sang this song to Adonai:

“I will sing to Adonai, for he is highly exalted:
the horse and its rider he threw in the sea.

² Yah is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
This is my God: I will glorify him;
my father’s God: I will exalt him.
³ Adonai is a warrior;
Adonai is his name.

⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he hurled into the sea.
His elite commanders
were drowned in the Sea of Suf.
⁵ The deep waters covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶ Your right hand, Adonai, is sublimely powerful;
your right hand, Adonai, shatters the foe.
⁷ By your great majesty you bring down your enemies;
you send out your wrath to consume them like stubble.

⁸ With a blast from your nostrils the waters piled up —
the waters stood up like a wall,
the depths of the sea became firm ground.
⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue and overtake,
divide the spoil and gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
¹⁰ You blew with your wind, the sea covered them,
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?
Who is like you, sublime in holiness,
awesome in praises, working wonders?

¹² You reached out with your right hand:
the earth swallowed them.
¹³ In your love, you led the people you redeemed;
in your strength, you guided them to your holy abode.

¹⁴ The peoples have heard, and they tremble;
anguish takes hold of those living in P’leshet;
¹⁵ then the chiefs of Edom are dismayed;
trepidation seizes the heads of Mo’av;
all those living in Kena‘an are melted away.
¹⁶ Terror and dread fall on them;
by the might of your arm they are still as stone
until your people pass over, Adonai,
till the people you purchased pass over.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain which is your heritage,
the place, Adonai, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, Adonai, which your hands established.

¹⁸ Adonai will reign forever and ever.

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots
and with his cavalry into the sea,
but Adonai brought the sea waters back upon them,
while the people of Isra’el walked on dry land
in the midst of the sea!”

²⁰ Also Miryam the prophet, sister of Aharon, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing, ²¹ as Miryam sang to them:

“Sing to Adonai, for he is highly exalted!
The horse and its rider he threw in the sea!”- Exodus 15:1-20

I’ve always loved this. Throughout the song we see the praise of Yah for the deliverance of His people. Yet, we never see the people glorifying the loss of life.

I guess what I’m getting at is that, life is so special. A great gift from Yah. Yet we treat it so lightly. We thirst for vengeance, yet we don’t blink an eye for the millions of babies that are killed every year in their mothers’ wombs. We don’t blink when we see the numbers of soldiers that have died. We shed no tears for the victims of suicide bombing as long as it’s not in our back yard.  When we’re gone, that’s it. Time’s up. All the chances you had to fall before Yah in repentance are gone. Evil people need their lives more, in some respects, than those of us who know Yah. They need every chance they can get.  Just some food for thought.

One love,

Albert C. Coble

Yah Loves Variety

I was doing some self-evaluation recently. Just running through the things that seem to define me; the hobbies and actions that make up who I think I am. I started to jot down the things that I find beautiful and have passion for and think that I have at least a small talent in. Things like music, photography, drawing, and gardening. 

Then as I was on my way to work, I heard a passage of scripture that really got me thinking about those particular passions of mine and where they came from. The verse was John 3:27:

“Yochanan answered, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from Heaven.”

This verse sent me on a rollercoaster of thoughts about who we are and the abilities that we have and where they come from. I started from the beginning, literally. Genesis and the creation account. We see Yah created everything. What we don’t ever get a sense of, simply because it’s recorded so matter of factly, is the way that everything worked so perfectly together. How everything from the sun and moon to the grass; they each perform a specific function that all effect each other and work together. Everything is so precisely calculated and everything has a purpose, as part of the whole and as the individual. 

Well, it didn’t take me long to come across something that really got my noodle baking.

“⁷ Then Adonai, God, formed a person from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being.” –Genesis 2:7

The second part of this verse is the one that really caught my attention. Yah breathed life into man. To me, that is a clear statement that our very being is connected to The Creator Himself. A part of Him lives within every living man and woman. This Creator who made everything with a purpose as a part of the whole and in the individual, left His breath as the source for our very existence.  So does it not make sense that the very desires and passions and interest that each one of us has are specific attributes of YHVH? I mean, really look at it. We see from the very first chapter that Yah is the first painter, architect, mathematician, musician (I mean, He created sound!), gardener, caregiver, scientist (since He created it), and every other attribute that there is! 

This really blew my mind and I am not entirely sure if I am articulating it correctly, but what a thought! I mean, look how much time we spent in high school warring with all the other people who didn’t see things the way we see them. In reality, we all need to have an understanding of where our passions came from. His purpose for them in our lives are to work together so we can see the complete picture!  That is why fellowship is so important! Our hearts and minds are geared to certain ways of thinking. Mine is in the art and the beauty of everything my Yah has created. While I know many people who can only see the black and white and analytical side of things. When we come together, our spirits can understand those things more through our combined perspective!

We must be careful not to lean on our own understanding, however. I mean, these attributes of His very being were given to us. Who are we to use them for our own ends? We did nothing to earn them, just as we did nothing to earn His love. Pride was the downfall. What do we have to be proud of?

“After all, what makes you so special? What do you have that you didn’t receive as a gift? And if in fact it was a gift, why do you boast as if it weren’t?” -1 Corinthians 4:7

All too often in my own walk, I lose track of where my gifts came from and start focusing on how great I am at said gift. Yah is always swift to pull the rug out from under my feet. And even though it sucks when it happens, I am grateful in retrospect that He refuses to let me use His breath for my own means. Many times I prayed that the second what I do stops being a ministry, that He would strip it from me. He has been faithful to that, and I praise Him for it. I had writers block for close to four years because I started just diving in to how I wanted things to be. I stopped focusing on just letting Him move through me and started trying to do it the way I saw fit. I am thankful for that now, even though at the time my world seemed to be falling apart.

I want every breath to be given back. I want to work with the spirit in those who see things in a different narrative in order to see the whole picture. We are truly wondrous creations that we have the indwelling of the very attributes of our Creator.  We can do so much to help others to see the completed masterpiece of who our Abba is. That is one of the many reasons we are called to help one another repeatedly throughout Scripture.

“As each one has received some spiritual gift, he should use it to serve others, like good managers of God’s many-sided grace —” -1 Peter 4:10

We are nothing without Him. Everything we have is Him. We have been given free will to see it out to our own ends, but in the end, our breath is going back to Him one way or the other. I would much rather offer it in thanks than have it pulled from my lungs. 

“So I fill my lungs with every breathe that comes from You. The taste is sweet and the sensation is something new.” – I wrote this for my wife some time ago. I felt compelled to offer it to Abba here in light of the revelation He has placed on my heart.

One Love,

Albert C. Coble