Bless Me Indeed #4 (Four Part Teaching)
(Meaning of Bless in Hebrew)
Please read the previous parts as a foundation for this study.
Yeshua (Jesus) spoke about two groups of people. Sheep and goats. When we read what He said, we see that both groups call Him "Lord" and both groups gave. Both groups fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the prisoners, came to the sick. However, the Lord said to the goats "you did not do it to Me". They said to Him "Lord, when did we NOT minister to You?".
The sheep asked Him "Lord, when did we see You hungry and we (DID) gave You? He answered and said to the sheep "in as much as you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me".
One group was sure they DID give to the Lord, and were shocked to realize it was not Him they gave to. The other group didn't even KNOW they gave Him anything, and were shocked to find out they HAD.
Is there a ministry unto the Lord and a ministry not unto the Lord?
Isn't giving from the Lord?
What is the difference between blessing others the way the sheep sheep hand, and blessing others the way the goats had?
Matthew 25:42-45 MKJV (to the goats) For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. 44 Then they (the goats) will also answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You? 45 Then He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.
The goats did not understand when they DIDN'T minister to Him. They were absolutely sure they were blessing the Lord with visiting prisoners and the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and taking in the strangers. What went wrong in their blessings?
The problem was not with the giving, because they gave. Don't we know when we give food, drink, clothes to the poor? They knew they gave, so what's the problem?
"Lord, I went to visit the sick as You said, I made meals to the poor, I went to prisons to minister, why are You saying I didn't give to You?"
The problem was not with the giving but with WHO they DID NOT give to. Since they did NOT give to certain people who are the least there was a heart issue. This means there was something they could NOT give.
In other words, it is WHO they did not bless and WHAT was in their hearts that prevented them from blessing the least of these.
Yes, they gave, but the world gives too. There are many charity organizations who give even more than the Church. It was NOT the giving, but the Lord they did not give to. "you didn't do it to Me".
They did not bow their knee to the Lord (serve Him). Their service was foreign to the Lord because we can only give Him back (bless Him back) with His works in us.
He said "commit to Me the works of My hands".
We give Him back His fruits which we bear in our hearts. We give Him back His image in us.
These goats gave something which was NOT received by the Lord because it was not His image in them.
Why am I saying these goats didn't give the Lord His image in their hearts?
Don't we know someone who gave to the Lord but His giving was not accepted?
Cain had the same problem as these goats.
He served the Lord and brought an offering to Him. Cain is not someone who doesn't go to Church. He certainly brought an offering to God. The world doesn't care about bringing an offering to God.
Cain was not someone who had not had some kind of a relationship with God. He even heard God's voice speaking to him when his face fell.
However, there was something wrong with his fellowship with God. Like these goats who call the Lord "Lord" and say to Him "when didn't we minister to You?" Cain brought an offering which was not accepted and foreign to God.
What was wrong with Cain's offering to the Lord?
Cain did NOT bring a Lamb to God. When his brother Abel brought the best of his sheep he had to slaughter the sheep and present it to God as an offering. Cain never entered the presence of the Lord through the blood of the Lamb. He did not acknowledge the Lamb. He could have asked his brother for a lamb if he wanted, but he chose not to.
He chose to bless God and enter His presence in his own way. Like these goats in Matthew 25 Cain probably thought "When didn't I give? When didn't I serve and bless You? I give too, I feed the hungry and clothe the naked and visit the prisoners too, so what's wrong with what I blessed You with?"
Cain brought to God the works of his own hands. He worked the land. The word "work" and "worship" in Hebrew are the same. In Hebrew we see that Cain worshipped the land. He worshipped the creation. He gave to God the fruits of the land he had worshipped. The land in the Bible represents the heart where seeds are sown (see the parable of the Seed and the Sower).
Cain like these goats tried to bless God with fruits that his own heart produced. "You see God? I have love, I give, I have peace, I can hold on to anger, I can change, and be better and bear good fruits from my land (heart).
However, these fruits from his heart looked like love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness … They look like the fruits from the Tree of Life, but they are not fruits of ABIDING in Him and He in Cain. These are fruits from a foreign tree. These are fruits that come from works.
The spirit of religion looks identical to the truth. It looks like wheat but it is tare. It looks like sheep but it speaks like a dragon. It looks like knowledge, but it is head knowledge and intellect. It is the knowledge of good and evil. Now man decides what is "good" and what is "evil", who is successful and who is a failure, who is strong and who is weak. Man judges by his own measurement.
These false fruits look like good deeds but they are works. By our own power we brought change to our hearts. They look like living water but it is bitter water. It looks like a lion, but it is the other lion who comes to steal kill and destroy. It looks like a tree planted by rivers of water, but it is a tree planted in the desert and bears no good fruits. It looks like a priest but it is not from the line of Zadok (Righteous One), It looks like the Holy Spirit but it is only wind.
God asked us to give Him what comes out of ABIDING - of an intimate relationship with Him.
He asked for the outcome of abiding in Him, the fruit of a love relationship with Him. Without Him we can bear nothing. Without intimacy with Him the fruit might look good, but it is dead works.
We can only give back to the Lord the works of His own hands in our hearts.
As I have shared with you in the previous parts of this teaching, God blesses and bows His knee to us first. In our relationship with Him He serves and feeds us with His fruits first, so we can bear the same. Then we can bless Him back with what He gave us.
Cain who represent these goats who have a religious mindset and focus on their DOING and giving but not on the Giver. They gave an offering, blessed and ministered, but the giving was a fruit which is NOT out of intimacy with Him. (Sarah wanted a fruit - baby- but by her own works. Her fruit was not what God intended for her.
Cain thought he was offering to the Lord and was offended and angry to find out that both he and his offering were not accepted.
Religious people who are not interested in having intimacy with the Lord, but focus on their own performance give the works of their own hands. The offering does not come out of an inner transformation in them, therefore when God speaks to them about it, they are offended by Him. "I gave, and it's not good enough? I'm not going to give again".
How do we know our fruits are not the fruits of ABIDING and intimacy with the Lord?
When someone challenges our giving (maybe complains about what we did for them) and out of offense we stop giving.
True giving is not conditional and based on others. True giving will be flowing from our hearts despite of people's weaknesses and their complaints. Even if people reject us we keep giving the fruit of love. Even if they betray us we do not keep an account of sin and point to their sin. That's a sing of a fruit of love that comes through intimacy with the Lord.
What if God tells us not to give Him something we're so used to give, and He asks for a relationship?
What if He says to us "you study and search the scriptures, but it is Me they speak about. Why don't you come to Me?
"Don't I come to You Lord?" What do You mean, "Come to Me"?
Personal Testimony
I remember when the Lord told me that. He spoke to me and added "Elana, you speak a lot about Me with people but you don't speak to Me". It was something I never thought about. I gave and gave, blessed and ministered to people…. But there was no abiding. I didn't even know what abiding means. "What do I need to do different, Lord?"
What He said to me touched my heart so much, I came to Him with so many questions trying to find out how to come to Him and talk to Him.
"What do I say to You Lord?" You know everything about me and my life. Do You want me to tell You what I am cooking today?" I had no idea how to have a relationship with God and what it means to have a relationship with Him. He told me He would teach me and that has been my walk ever since. I am finding out who the Lord really is, His love for me, and how to stay in Him and not run away from Him.
I could have continued studying the Bible and speaking about the Lord all my life thinking that I have a relationship with the Lord. It was Him who reached out to me and changed my relationship with Him. It was Him who asked for more and Him who keeps pouring out His love on me to help me be rooted and grounded in His love. As I grow in Him I He helps me to give Him back a Lamb – Yeshua (Jesus) in me. It is Him who helps me bear more and more of His fruits in me.
The goats and religious people are sure they are ministering to the Lord. They had no idea they were not doing it to Him. In other words, they did not bring to the Lord a Lamb. They did not bring Yeshua (Jesus) in them. Their hearts were never changed into His image and nature. This is why Yeshua said to them "you did not do it to the least of these, and therefore you did not minister to Me".
In other words, "if you did not minister to the small ones, the minimal in magnitude, dignity, rank and importance, you don't have My heart in you. I sent to you My children who are hungry and thirsty for Me. They are naked and needed My garment of Salvation, bound in prison and struggling with their sins and you did not visit them, sick and you did not come to them. It is those who need a physician and are sick that I came to set free, but you never cared for these broken hearted, wounded, afflicted, poor, needy, orphans, widows, childless, prisoners, bound, blind, lame, deaf, mute, sick, weak, rejected, abandoned, betrayed and abused. You never cared for the messed up ones. It is all the failures and zeros of the Earth (Psa 2:8, Psa 22:28, Pro 30:4) whom are My sheep and you have cast them out of your heart, but I wanted you to minister to them".
This is why Yeshua (Jesus) said...
Luke 14:12-14 NASB And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13 "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed,..."
There was a problem with the goats' relationship with the Lord. They gave but their giving never transformed their hearts so as to give to those who are least. Their hearts were not right before Him and they were not a blessing to His sheep because they could not give back Yeshua and His fruits in them. They visited those who are bound in prison but they judged those whose sin seemed worse than others. They fed the hungry, but they looked down at those who were starving for crumbs. They clothed the naked but those whose nakedness (shame) was exposed and had a huge mess were despised by them. They came to the sick, but not to those whose sickness seemed catching and there is too much mess in their life.
The hearts of the goats were not transformed by the revelation of who Yeshua really is and who He came to save. He came to the least of these, to the rejected, abandoned, betrayed, sinners, prostitutes, thieves, murderers, criminals, needy, broken hearted – those who really need a Physician and admit they need Him.
How is it that the hearts of the goats never changed?
They did not allow the Lord to serve them, bless them, give them, pour out His love in their hearts, reveal to them who He really is – so they can become as He is.
Whenever goats come to a place of desperation, need, mess, failure, weakness - so the Lord could reveal His heart, power and nature to them - they kick, fight, protect themselves, get off the alter and try to fix the mess by themselves, or run away from it (cover and hide). They do not allow an affliction to work on their life for good. They refuse to die and try to avoid affliction. They do not let the Lord reveal to them who He is for them and bow down and serve them.
Romans 5:3-4 NLT We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. (4) And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
The Bible is full of accounts when the Lord's nation is in desperate need, in impossible situations, they want to go back to what is familiar and comfortable to them, but the Lord kept revealing to them who He really is. He kept blessing them and bending His knee to serve their needs. He even weakened them and circumcised all the men while their enemies are surrounding them, then He asked them to shut their mouth for a week and brought down the stronghold that kept them from moving forward. Again and again in His faithfulness He showed His great wonders, His power, wisdom, love, kindness. Again and again He blessed them with who He is in the midst of their trouble, trying to build their confidence and trust in Him, but their hearts were hardened. He tried to bear His fruits in them so they could be as He is and shine His light to the Nations, but they were not transformed.
The Lord shows Himself strong when we are weak. He blesses us and serves us in our weakness and when we least expect it. When we are in our failure and mess, tied to the alter as a living sacrifice and all we want is to get off, we want to fix it, to get rid of the situation and be set free. However, we need to stay right in the place that kills that living flesh. We need to stay right where it is so uncomfortable, and find our life in Him. It is the one who loses his life, who will also find his life (Mat 10:39).
The blessings of the Lord come through a renewed mind and a transformed heart. They come through the Lord's bent knee as He steps into our darkness, touches the weak area that chains us, and reveals His tender love. With that revelation of His nature we can step into the life of the least of those, because we are those least. When we go through a mess we cannot judge someone else's mess. Through a transformed life we can speak softly and with a tender love to others who are failing and messing to bring them hope and testify of the things we have seen and heard. We testify Yeshua in us. This is how we bless others and give back to the Lord what is His. It is the meaning of love the least of those with the love that the Lord poured out into us.
Yeshua blessed the poor in spirit (not those who got it all together). He blessed the ones who mourn, the gentle (not the harsh), the hungry (no the full) and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers (not those seeking division and strife), the persecuted for righteousness and the insulted ones. He blessed them, meaning He bent the knee to serve them and to pour His love on them. Mat 5:3-11.
From all those whom He blessed only a remnant will receive His blessing (His bent knee) and as a result will bless Him back and become as He is. They know Him, they love Him and they give Him back who He is in their hearts.
Luke 17:15-20 NASB Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they? 18 "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" 19 And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well." 20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; (Why?)
I believe the Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed because the signs are in the inside of you. When the Kingdom of God is in you, it will show through your transformed heart. "You will know by the fruits" because your transformed life, bearing Yeshua's fruits, becoming as He is, loving the least lovable, forgiving the ones who hurt you, blessing them and returning good for evil. These are the signs that the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
Yeshua said to Jerusalem His Bride, "you will not see Me until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".
What did the Lord mean when He said that?
Matthew 23:37-39 NASB "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'"
The Lord was saying, everyone who comes in My name needs to make sure I served him and poured out into his heart. If you come in My name you are blessed. It means you accepted Me as your servant who sowed into your heart and lead you by example. You need to receive from Me and let Me bless you by pouring into your heart if you come in My name. You need to let Me show you who I really am, and only then you can bless others and serve them.
You will not see Me until you say "He who comes in the name of the Lord is someone who was served by Me as I bent My knee to minister to him.
Yeshua also said "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Mat 5:8).
Therefore, the ones who will see God are those who are pure in heart whom the Lord has blessed (bent His knee, serve), but also those who will become a blessing and say "Blessed everyone who comes in the name of the Lord". Meaning, it is those who are blessed by the Lord and have a pure heart, and those who bless back anyone who comes in His name – who will see God.
The Lord blessed (bent His knee, came to serve) the pure in heart. He lives in them and will make sure they see Him. They will see Him because they were blessed (served) by Him and in return they will become a blessing to others and bless Him back. Meaning they have experienced the Lord bowing down to them and serving them and they will bear the same fruit as they bless (bow the knee) back. Their heart is pure because what He sows in them also bears fruits. They reflect His image back.
The experience of the pure in heart with the Lord is the same experience the disciples had when He washed their feet and served (blessed) them bowing His knee.
We have an example of entering through the narrow door into the kingdom by bowing down to the Lord of lords and King of kings as He entered through the gate of His Bride Jerusalem.
Yeshua enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (servant) and the crowds are shouting "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!". The ones who shouted are the ones who knew who He was. He lived in their hearts, He transformed their lives, He touched them in His softness and revealed Himself to them. They know they need to be saved from their flesh and they cry out to Him. They have a revelation of who He is as the King, therefore they are able to accept Him into the gate of their heart as King. They know Him as Lord who is their Owner, as the one who saves, the one who came from God, the King who has all authority. They bowed down to Him as they spread their garments on the ground, allowing Yeshua and the donkey to step on their garments.
Matthew 21:7-11 MKJV And they brought the ass, even the colt, and put their clothes on them, and He sat on them. 8 And a very great crowd spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them in the way. 9 And the crowds who went before, and those who followed, cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11 And the crowd said, This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee.
As the Lord entered Jerusalem (His Bride) on a donkey, people welcomed Him saying "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". Who were they?
I believe these were the ones who knew who He was. They opened their heart to Him and were able to receive from Him and therefore give Him back. They did not care that He came on a donkey, with no fancy car, no gold ring on His finger, or an expensive suit, but poor. He looked as they are. They could recognize Him because of WHO He is, and not because of what He came with. They knew Him in their inside and all they wanted is to crown Him as King over their hearts. The gates of a city represent a place of authority and decision where the elders and leaders would sit and talk. When Yeshua entered the gates of Jerusalem it was their own heart whom He entered. He took the place of authority and the ones who welcomed Him by the gate gave up their authority in order to submit to His. It was the religious ones, those of great authority who would not give up their own authority and submit to Him as King and Lord. In fact their authority over their own hearts is so important that they are angry when they see Him come. Religious people cannot say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".
They cannot bless back with what they have not received and is not in them.
Yeshua's Bride knows and recognizes Him no matter what His outer appearance might look like. She responds to His love and her heart is stirred when she sees Him. She takes off her old garment and allows Him to step on it because she knows that He is all she needs. She rejoices when He enters her gates and acknowledges she needs to be saved. She welcomes her King and as He enters into her as His Temple He makes sure no other lover lives there. She is His, and as a jealous Husband He takes all authority and drives out anything foreign in her heart.
In His authority as Lord, King, savior, Husband and Lover, Yeshua enters the heart of His Beloved Bride (Temple) and declares "this is My House…"
Matthew 21:12-14 MKJV And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, It is written, "My house shall be called the house of prayer";.
My House is Mine and none other. My Beloved is Mine and I am hers and I am here to save her as she cried to Me "Hosanna". Yes, I am her Savior and she is a House of prayer. My Bride does not rob Me of who I am in her. She blesses Me back with the blessings I bless her. She speaks back to Me the words of love I speak to her. She knows how to speak to Me with My words in her mouth.
God bless you and smile on you,
Elana
