Times of Refreshing and Encouragement to Stay in His Light

We read in the following Scriptures about what Jesus (Yeshua) did:

“And daybreak having arrived, having gone out, He went into a solitary place, and the crowds were seeking Him, and came up to Him and were detaining Him, not to go from them.” (Luke 4:42)

 

“And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)

 

“Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.” (Mark 1:35)

 

“When Jesus heard about John, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” (Matthew 14:13)

 

“36Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
39He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 40Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”‘ (Matthew 26:36-41)

Jesus’ only request was for the disciples to “stand watch and pray“, to be in prayer with Him as Jesus had to go and spend time alone with the Lord to overcome His flesh as this is the only thing satan has to attack! Jesus also warned His disciples that if they didn’t stay watching and in prayer that they would risk succumbing to temptation, that which only comes from satan and his way of attacking our minds and our hearts! To watch is to stay awake and aware knowing what to be praying for, that which is needed and can only be accomplished by God and not what they (we) can do in the physical! If we try to accomplish the need in the physical and not allow God to do whatever is needed in the spiritual we can actually make matters worse (Peter cutting off the ear of the guard) and ultimately bring glory only to ourselves thinking we are doing the will of God in our supposedly “loving” actions. God’s ways are not our ways and the battles need to be won His way which only brings glory to Him, and proves that it is only Him that has provided all that we need to overcome the most difficult, trying and tempting of situations to help us and to strengthen us to resist doing the will of the enemy and to stand firm in the will of the Lord! Remember family, much heartfelt pray equals much love so never believe that there always has to be a physical action for someone to be loving especially when it is a situation that only the Lord can remedy!

I believe everything in the Word of God has a deeper meaning and spiritual message for us, and because of this I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Jesus chose to go to the garden of Gethsemane to prepare Himself to endure and overcome the greatest of the trials, testings and the temptation (by the enemy) of His flesh. The blameless and perfect One gave us all a witness of how He prepared Himself right before being falsely accused, falsely judged and condemned to suffer a horrendous and most painful kind of death on the cross, which only He could bear, being the only One who can condemn, YET He pleaded for mercy and forgiveness for those executing Him, as we all are guilty of the same and deserve to be put on that cross!

I believe we are given a deeper meaning and spiritual witness to how Jesus prepared Himself, His flesh, as well as witnessing to and teaching His disciples how they also were to overcome their flesh and the temptation of the enemy which is found in the very meaning of the name of the garden that Jesus guided them to be in, Gethsemane! The meaning of Gethsemane is “an oil press“. The only way oil can be produced is through the pressing of the flesh of that which will produce oil. The Lord commanded His people in Leviticus 24:1-4, “1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2“Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps (Menorah/also see Revelation 1:11-20) burn continually. 3Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron (High Priest/Jesus, our High Priest) shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. 4He (Jesus) shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.” I hope by my notes that I inserted to the above Scripture in Leviticus 24:1-4 that we who serve our Great High Priest can see with eyes that see and hear with ears that hear but most importantly receive with hearts that are a deep and fertile soil to receive the Word of God with understanding and bring forth much fruit, and shining forth His Light to this ever increasingly dark world! We must bring forth pure oil in order to be His Bride, to shine His Light to this dark world or else we don’t know Him! A faithful bride will always seek to know the Bridegroom, to serve her Husband, because of her faith in and her love for the Bridegroom because He has first loved her and given His life for her. This is the heart of the bride who lovingly, willingly, joyfully and faithfully will endure the pressing and bring forth the only kind of oil that the Lord accepts as pure oil for the Light.

The most important thing we as followers of Christ can do for our brothers and sisters when they are losing the battle against their flesh & the enemy, causing the Light within them to grow increasingly dim, especially when they are giving in to their flesh, accepting the lies of the enemy and are falling asleep is to stand watch in much prayer while crying out in love to them, hoping and praying that the Lord will wake them up in order for them to be able to humble themselves and to put their focus back on the Lord so that they can once again be able to resist the devil and his schemes! If this is happening to us may other faithful brothers and sisters stand in the gap and do the same for us! 

This is the only way we are able to cause the enemy and his accusing, judging and condemning spirit based on lies about us and others, especially the body of Christ, to flee from us so that we can once again walk in humility, be recharged, lifted up from our pit in order to do the will of the Lord, and not the will of our flesh, which only serves the enemy and shines his darkness using evil thoughts, from hardness of heart which produces words of accusation, judgment and condemnation.The Presence of our God will not and cannot be in the midst of those that are doing the will of the enemy and therefore only hopelessness, despair and ultimately death will reign in the hearts of those that have turned their focus and hearts away from the True Light & Life Giver!

“1“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13“WATCH therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:1-13)

“4Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand (near). 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8)

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name (character) of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2)

 

“14 The Lord is MY STRENGTH and song, And He has become my salvation (Yeshua!). 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation (Yeshua!) Is in the tents of the righteous; The Right Hand of the Lord (Yeshua!) does valiantly.” (Psalm 118:14-15)

 

When the peace of Christ rules in our hearts, gratitude and love overflows. Even in the darkest of times, we can praise God and rejoice always in His love, His sovereignty, and His promise to be near us when we call out to Him in lowliness of heart! May we understand and receive in our minds & hearts that He is all our all in all, which will cause our mouths to proclaim His goodness in the most difficult of times! 

 

As the enemy battles and wars with our minds so that he may overtake our hearts to keep us from doing the will of the Lord only desiring to lead us to death may we find that solitary and quiet place where we can more easily hear the Lord’s still small voice which gives us all that we need as believers to be encouraged, strengthened, loved perfectly, to hear truth that only comes from Him, to be comforted by the perfect Comforter and recharged to shine His Light and thereby fulfilling His will in our lives bringing glorify only to the Lord! The lips of His bride will produce words of life and blessings seeking to build up and not to tear down, only using loving & patient words of reproof only when necessary. 

May those who claim His Name “press in” to Him to receive all that we need to overcome our flesh thru and by Him, and JOYFULLY bring forth much pure oil that keeps His Light burning within us and through us in order to overcome the darkness, and to see “the way” (Jesus) to be able to go out in the darkness and meet our Bridegroom when He comes calling for His bride to enter into His wedding feast and to be with the Bridegroom forevermore! I pray this in the name of the One Whom brings forth the Light and the only One that has the words of eternal life, the only Name where salvation can be received, our Sustainer, the life Giver!

May it be so family! May we all be found with much oil in our lamps when He returns as the only way when can get this pure oil is going through “the pressing” with our eyes, our minds and our hearts steadfastly focused on Him! This oil cannot be received/purchased from another, we must seek to purchase this oil with price of our flesh, as silver refined in the fire of affliction so that our fleshly impurities are removed so that we more brightly and clearly shine the Image of the only One that is able to give life, and to give it abundantly, causing those that receive His life to bear much good fruit of the Spirit. To those that overcome in and thru Him, He gives life eternally!

HalleluYah! He is faithful to complete that which He began in us, may we stay focused on Him in faith & love to allow Him reveal a deeper understanding of His love to each of us in those many times He will lead us or cause us to be alone with Him, so that only He can speak to our minds & our hearts if we will just press in and hear (shema/Deuteronomy 6:4-9)) His voice of Truth in order for Him to be glorified in and through us!

May we all be encouraged family to know how to watch and pray in order to help each other always turn (return/teshuva) to the One Whom will give us everything we need to overcome the darkness in and around us by the power of His Holy Spirit. May we not grieve and or God forbid quench the Holy Spirit by being led astray by the enemy for He has no power over us unless we are given over to our flesh. Praise God He is always there calling and pleading with us to return to the Light of His glorious Face so that He can and will restore us to shine His Light!

Because of Your awesome love, grace, mercy and Your Truth given and available always for us all may desire and proclaim not our will be done but Your will be done in and through all of our lives Heavenly Father!

Amen!