7 January 2010 (Chamashee/Teruah)
The Messianic Complex
Letting Carnal Dreams Die in Yah'shua
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yah'shua, who, being in the form of Elohim, did not consider it robbery to be equal with Elohim, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore Elohim also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Yah'shua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yah'shua the Messiah is Master, to the glory of Elohim the Father" (Phil.2:5-11, NKJV).
I have been struggling to find ways to express the message I have for you today. It's about men called by Yahweh to be His ministers who start off by getting things back to front, messing up, and apparently disqualifying themselves. When in particular it comes to prophets we sometimes expect of them only that which is realistic of the Sinless One, Yah'shua the Messiah.
Nearly all ministers, be they prophets, evangelists, pastors, apostles, or whatever, start off a little headstrong and carnally-minded, and not invariably are in search of accolades and the praises of men. I hear that one Messianic hopeful has just given himself new title (to add to his many others) that sounds a bit like Rambo. All of them have to be cut down to size before they can really be used.
Moses' mission began without honour when he was about 40 - it began with failure because he wasn't thinking like a man of Yahweh. He knew that he had somehow been called as a national liberator but in the beginning he was thinking more like a revolutionary Marxist dreamer than a prophet of Yahweh: he ended up killing an Egyptian taskmaster, getting absolutely no thanks for it from the fellow Israelites he was trying to save, and had to flee with his tail between his legs to Midian.
For 40 long years, the Prince of Egypt became an animal herder and servant of a pagan, living a very simple life indeed. Not until his messianic complex was burned out of him and he had learned to surrender to Yahweh in realtime and not just in his imagination did his real mission begin - when he was about 80. First he had to learn that he was not the redeemer of Israel before he could become a proxy redeemer of Israel. In other words, he had to learn that "he" was no redeemer - it would be Yahweh IN him doing the redeeming! But first his pride and carnal inclinations had to be burned out of him. Heir to the throne of the mightiest empire in the Old World, he became a desert bedouin sheep-herder. Doesn't this sound like the change of status that the incarnate Messiah had to agree to, learning total submission to His Father in a cursed body of flesh as one of us? The Prince had to learn how to become "one of them", the people of Israel.
Whatever you think you may be, you need to understand that you are not. If you are called to be a msinister (and if you're a husband and father, then that's one area of ministry you can't avoid), then it will be as a servant carrying Yah'shua IN you and not because of something fastastically wonderful that is actually 'you' (even if you may be - and are - infinitely precious to your Heavenly Father).
This goes for the women too who have their own rôles and callings to perform down here. There are no divas (female 'deities' or 'goddesses') or prima donna's in the Kingdom of Elohim either - for one thing, they are not called to rule. They too must die to self-rule, husband-rule, family-rule, congregation-rule - they too must incarnate the Elohim and let the Ruach haQodesh live through them as bondservants of Messiah. And if they are called to rule over other women as spiritual mothers and servantss, as they are over their children under their husband, then so be it, but not before the death of the flesh has occurred.
We find a very different Moses who returns after his 40 years in Midian: "The man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (Num.12:3, NKJV). And you only become the most humble when you become the lowest of bond-servants, dying to self. Then - and only then - can Yahweh live in a man fully and so exalt him.
Comments from Readers
Good words Lev. That is so true. And it makes me sad to see Jeremiah 5 & 6 coming about again everywhere we look.
I was working the other day and Messiah was going over some things He said in Matthew 7.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Master, Master, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
How many times have we analyzed those scriptures even getting into details of the greek definitions!
But just in that one verse alone, understanding we are nothing without remission of sin of Messiah, we will meet Him face to face and anything we do for Him after receiving His salvation is as being bought and paid for by Him and we are not our own. How could anyone ever say, being spiritually proud or heady / highminded to Messiah's face any thoughts of, "look at what I've done". That we owe all to Him and could not do anything that He hasn't paid the price for in the first place. I couldn't imagine looking into His eyes and feeling that burning Love that it would not matter anyway that I did anything, as even my best for Him is not that good. But he is looking on our heart!
It is so sad to think about as there are so many out there today who need to wake up. And is that the message we see of the witnesses in Revelation wearing sackcloth? This Dust part of our Being is returning there and none will get past that. Glory in it for a season but it will return to the same place as any others have found out. Messiah is Life and that is all that is important while here, and He does give us true Life. To hug our little children, to listen to them, to love our wife(s), family loved ones, to cherish what is the most valuable in His eyes. And we know if we have children and love them what it means to literally become a servant of all. (RDR, USA, 8 January 2010)
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