Enduring As Seeing Him Who Is Invisible

Posted on 04/06/2014 by goodnewsfromadistantland — Leave a comment

CLK478889 Endurance is a major key to our spiritual growth and maturity.

As Believers, we are expected to grow spiritually, and come to maturity.

We are to grow in our faith, and in our knowledge of our Master and Saviour Yahushua [Jesus] (2Peter 3:18; 2Thess. 1:3).

All this growth calls for endurance!

Learning to endure is a great work! Learning endurance requires great love, patience, and humility. In the Scriptures, we can see that those who learned endurance became mighty in faith.

Learning to endure builds our faith, and our courage! Through difficulties and stormy situations, endurance is key to growing up! However, if we do not learn to practice endurance, we will remain selfish and immature, and lacking in faith.

Moses’ example gives us a key to learning endurance:

By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27)

Moses endured by keeping his eyes on the true, eternal, ever-living, and yet invisible, God — Yahuwah Elohim [the LORD God], the Holy One of Israel.

The Eternal Things

We are encouraged in the Bible to look at, or to focus on, the things that are unseen, or invisible, because these things are eternal:

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal [temporary]; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2Corinthians 4:18)

As the above verse tells us, the things that are unseen are eternal, outside of time! It is these eternal things that ‘thirsty souls’ are searching for!

Thirsty Souls have an inborn spiritual awareness of the deeper, unseen realm. Thirsty Souls are looking for the eternal, incorruptible Light of the heavenly Father’s wisdom to enlighten their pathway.

Thirsty Souls know that when they find the eternal, the truly “Living Waters,” then their thirst will be genuinely satisfied. They will know that, at last, they are in the pathway of righteousness!

Much of the Bible’s message cannot be understood unless we focus on the things that are unseen or invisible. It is the below-the-surface, the unseen realm, that Yahuwah desires that we understand.

But we must be very cautious in our quest to understand the invisible realm! The Scriptures warn us of the many spiritual counterfeits. We need to guard against the traps of the evil one!

Despite the dangers, Yahuwah desires that we would diligently seek for the Ways of His Kingdom, and focus on His unseen Truths because they are eternal, and will bring us into His Kingdom!

Eternal and Ever-Lasting

We all know that eternal means ever-lasting, forever, no ending, outside of time.

Yahuwah Elohim, the living God, Creator of heaven and earth, claims to BE eternal! He alone is the eternal, immortal, ever-lasting God. There are many Scriptures that reveal this truth:

But Yahuwah is the true God, He is the living God, an everlasting king. (Jeremiah 10:10a; see also Genesis 21:33; Psalms 90:2; John 17:3; 1Timothy 1:17; 1John 5:11)

There is no God else beside me [Yahuwah]; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and There Is None Else. (Isaiah 45:21b, 22)

This may seem very basic, but being reminded of the eternal nature of the ONE, true Yahuwah Elohim is part of learning endurance. We learn endurance by looking to the One who is eternal, the One who is outside of time! And though He is the supreme authority and power in all the universe, and He is the Holy One who is higher than the heavens, yet He greatly desires to have a personal relationship with His crowning creation — human beings!

To truly know the ONE, eternal God — to know Him as our personal salvation and rescue, then we must ‘look’ to Him alone, and begin to focus our spiritual eyes on Him — just as Moses did.

Born-again Believers in Yahushua Messiah have a strong desire to learn everything about Father God and His Word [the Bible]. They sincerely desire to honour and obey God faithfully. And, their heart’s desire is to learn endurance and self-control, to learn patience and humility.

The first step to learning these things is to keep our thoughts, and our heart, focused on Messiah and on His Word, just as Moses did. This needs to be a conscious decision — that everyday, we will acknowledge Yahuwah, seek Him in prayer and in His Word, and trust in Him who is invisible, to strengthen us to endure, to persevere, in His Ways!

We will remain focused by seeking Yahuwah diligently in the written Scriptures — and by obeying His Word. It is when we obey His written Word, that we are looking [as Moses did] to the invisible things of God’s Kingdom.

Part of our growth in endurance, as I have posted previously, is to begin practicing the principle of First the Natural, Then the Spiritual. Learning, and obeying, God’s Word in the natural realm is essential to growing up spiritually in our faith, and in knowing Him personally. [If you have not read that article, I encourage you to click on the link.]

Avoiding Hindrances

As we grow in our faith, we will encounter many things that would try to hinder our focus, things that hinder our growth in faith and endurance. One of the greatest hindrances is to ‘look to’ and feed upon spiritual matter, or mixtures, that are counterfeit, and do not originate in Yahuwah.

In the above passage in Isaiah, notice again that Yahuwah Elohim says, “There is no other God besides Me!” This statement is significant! This is essential! This is all-important!

Many Thirsty Souls today do not realize they are looking to other ‘gods,’ by embracing false, demonic teachings. Instead of looking to the true, eternal Yahuwah Elohim, and His written WORD, such Thirsty Souls are seeking for the eternal wisdom in the wrong places! They are falling prey to the worldly wisdom of ‘Egypt’ — which is the wisdom of this world.

If we would avoid the counterfeits — the false gods of this world, and grow in our faith and endurance, then we must follow Moses’ example! (Hebrews 11:27)

What did Moses DO?

He forsook Egypt!

This is the example for us.

Egypt is a prophetic word that represents the wisdom of this world, and its false values, false practices, and false gods! This is what Moses abandoned! And we need to follow Moses’ example — to forsake this world and its false values, false practices, and false gods! This is an important part of our looking to Him who is invisible, and our endurance training!

If we are to learn endurance, we must forsake Egypt! We must forsake the wisdom of this world!

We forsake Egypt by maintaining our focus on the invisible, living God, Yahuwah, by obeying Father’s Word, and by clinging to His promises in the written Scriptures — regardless of opposition and suffering. Enduring our trials, focusing on Him who is invisible, and forsaking the worldly wisdom of this world — these actions are pleasing to our heavenly Father because it is by these actions that we are truly ‘walking by faith!‘ (Hebrews 11:6)

The Wisdom of The Wise

As we saw in The Wisdom of the Wise, the invisible ‘wisdom of this world’ is a wisdom that is very subtle and crafty, and captivating. We have all been taken in by this wisdom at various times in our lives. There are many facets to this ever-changing, ever-appealing wisdom of this world.

However, the wisdom of this world is a dangerous and dark deception! The wisdom of this world is a deceiving mixture. It cannot understand the Light of the written WORD of Yahuwah! The wisdom of this world is a dark mixture that is earthly, sensual, demonic (James 3:15).

We must maintain our alertness, and guard against any spiritual ‘awakening’ or spiritual ‘fire’ that is a mixture of darkness and light. We must guard against taking in spiritual ‘wisdom’ that departs from the written Word of God.

Spiritual mixtures are defiled!! Sadly, many have fallen prey to, and are feeding on, one or more of the hundreds of defiled spiritual mixtures that are lurking about, seeking the ignorant.

Father warns us that it is HIS people who are ‘destroyed’ because they lack the knowledge of Father’s written WORD (Hosea 4:6)!

We look further into this problem of ‘spiritual mixtures’ in the article: A Way That Seems Right: Avoiding the Strong Delusion

More Clues to Moses’ Endurance

Forsaking the deceptive ‘wisdom’ of Egypt energized Moses to identify with the people of God. Forsaking Egypt helped him choose to endure and suffer afflictions rather than indulging in the pleasures of sins. Forsaking Egypt gave him courage to steadfastly endure, and not give up his faith. Moses refused to seek any help from Egypt!

Moses endured a great fight of afflictions! What Moses went through was difficult, painful, frightening, and agonizing. He endured through many trials and stormy difficulties.

His endurance and courage was strengthen because 1.) he forsook Egypt, and because 2.) he kept His spiritual eyes on Yahuwah Elohim!

Moses endured by obeying Yahuwah in the small things and in the great things. Moses adjusted his behaviour as he grew in faith, and he maintained his patience, obedience, and his humility. Though Moses was not perfect, for he did fail at times, but He Did Not Give Up his commitment to Yahuwah! He continued to endure by focusing on Him Who is invisible — the living God, Creator of heaven and earth!

There are several Scriptures that reveal the kind of character and endurance that Moses had (see Exodus 33:11a; Numbers 11:2; 12:3, 7-8, 13; 14:5; 16:4, 22, 45; 20:6; Deuteronomy 9:18-20; 1Peter 3:4). Overall, we can know that Moses maintained his faithful endurance by:

Seeing (focusing on) Him who is invisible,
Forsaking Egypt,
Clinging to Yahuwah’s Word,
Faithfully serving Father,
Humbling himself over and over again,
Learning patience, mercy, and forgiveness in the midst of trials and difficulties.

Because of Moses’ endurance, character, and patience, he earned an amazing distinction:

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)

Meekness is a very distinctive and necessary quality for walking with Yahuwah! Meekness is a somewhat difficult quality to describe. It is more than humility. It is a disposition to be patient and long suffering, along with a submissive humbleness. Meekness is patience under injuries. It is a quality that makes a person teachable.

Without this necessary characteristic, we are disqualified from entering the kingdom of heaven! (see Matthew 18:2-3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17) Without meekness, we can not learn endurance. Without meekness, we can not learn to follow the example of our Saviour.

The True Light

As we are learning to endure by seeing Him who is invisible; as we are forsaking the wisdom of this world and its myriad of enticements, then we will begin to learn for ourselves the promises that Father has for us in His Word. And, we will begin to understand more and more the Light of Yahuwah’s WORD, and we will not be taken in by counterfeits.

To have the true Light and true understanding for our path, then we must pursue spiritual guidance that is in complete agreement with all the Words of the Bible — both the Torah [the Old Testament], and the Testimony of Yahushua Messiah (see Isaiah 8:20).

Our commitment to obey God’s written Word ONLY, is the necessary step to receiving Father’s GRACE to learn endurance and courage, and for maintaining our personal relationship with Father. The WORD of Yahuwah must be first place in our life, in our heart, and in our standard of behaviour in every area of life!

Our Motto: Enduring as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible!

Moses endured as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible! As Thirsty Souls, let this be our motto too!

Enduring as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible … is to keep our eyes and our heart focused on the eternal [out-of-time], un-defiled things of Yahuwah’s Kingdom, and His Word.

Enduring as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible … is to maintain our focus on our Saviour — Messiah Yahushua, the Light of Life, who died on the cross, shedding His blood for the remission of our sins, and rising from the dead, and is now seated at Father’s right hand, and is praying for each one of us. (Hebrews 7:25; 8:1)

Enduring as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible … is to recognize that the Light of God’s written Word is as a shining Light for our path, shining brighter and brighter as we approach the day of His return. (Proverbs 4:18)

Enduring as seeing Him, Yahuwah Elohim, who is invisible … is to patiently persist in living our lives according to His commandments, walking in His ways, and thus becoming established in Father’s truth with confidence. Our commitment to His WORD is vital to receiving Father’s grace to enable us to walk according to His Ways! (Deuteronomy 5:33; 28:9)

May it be that each one of us would always remember that even though we can not see Him, even though we may not understand the difficulties and the sufferings:

we will keep our spiritual eyes upon the WORD of Yahuwah, our beloved Saviour, and
we will not give up our hope, we will not give up our faith, and
we will keep our behaviour in agreement with His written WORD regardless of the trials, and
we will obey His unchanging WORD, so that we may receive the GOAL of our faith — the salvation of our souls!!! (1Peter 1:6-9)

With our spiritual eyes and heart focused and firmly committed to the One, True, Eternal Yahuwah Elohim, then He will bless us, and He will give us the endurance we need! (see Psalms 34)