Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: When you face a foe, when you face a challenge, when you face pain, let your first response be to thank God. Thank you, Father God, that this difficulty is being used by you to fortify me.

Israel is facing a time where they're being heavily tempted to fear their enemy. Satan's chief tactic in disabling God's people is by crippling them through fear. The Lord is continually speaking into the life of his people to strengthen them so that they won't buckle under the power of fear. That's what I've been addressing on the previous episodes in this series. Hear the word of God. The Lord is saying, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look anxiously about, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

I developed a whole concept on this talking about how when we're in the midst of a battle, God is going to strengthen us. Eventually, what's going to happen is we're going to rise up through that battle and get victory over it. I used the illustration last time when I shared about a recent battle that I was in. When the battle first hit me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt inside so terrible, so awful. I don't even have words that could convey to you the pain and the awful feeling that I felt. It was horrendous.

You know what? A couple days later, the circumstances of the battle had not yet changed, but I felt completely different. It was like the battle was no longer in me hitting my guts, knocking the spiritual wind out of me. What was happening after two days of just standing in God, facing the battle, looking to him for help, praying for him to strengthen me? In a few days, what happened was I woke up in the morning and I was strong. The battle was still there, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it anymore. I was freed of it in a very real way. I was living over it. My thoughts were focused on the Lord rather than the battle.

The Lord said to Israel, "Do not look anxiously about. Do not focus on the battle. Do not focus on your problem. Do not focus on the circumstance. Focus on me. I'm your God. I am with you. I will strengthen you." As you continue, beloved one, cry out to the Lord from the midst of your weakness as you're in a battle. You're going to find yourself rising out of the ashes of defeat into a place of victory. You're going to find yourself standing on the rock of Hashem, on the rock of the word of God, on the rock of God's spirit.

This is what the Lord was telling Israel, and I spoke about this once again in more detail in the last episode. "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." He says this in verse 11: "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored." Yeshua said to the people that he wrote to in the Book of Revelation—Jewish believers that were being persecuted by the unbelieving Jewish community—Jesus said to them, "I will cause those who say they are Jews but are not to bow down at your feet and to know that I have loved you."

God is going to give you victory over your enemy. Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored. Those who contend with you will be as nothing and perish. Every spirit that is opposing you, every person that's being motivated by a demonic spirit, everything that's coming against you from the realm of darkness, you're going to defeat. All your enemies will be defeated. Even those that are coming against you in the flesh, if they're being powered by the powers of darkness, if they're being motivated by Satan and the demonic realm, they're going to be broken, shamed, and ashes under your feet. You will defeat every single one.

When it's over, you're going to be standing on the rock of Yeshua in victory over every single one of the enemies that you ever faced. Every one of your enemies is going to be shamed and dishonored. When I speak about your enemies, I'm talking about those that are opposing you because they're moving against you in the powers of darkness. "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored. Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish."

God's going to defend you. You will seek those who quarrel with you, but you will not find them. Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, "Do not fear, I will help you. Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you," declares the Lord, "and your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel."

Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering The Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he'll be right back. But first, a quick announcement. As war surrounds Israel, something greater is at stake. The most urgent need for Jewish people right now is the message of Messiah. Discovering The Jewish Jesus's Hebrew Gospel billboards and digital outreach are reaching people across Israel.

At a time when so many are living with fear, uncertainty, and questions about the future, this is a moment to bring the hope that only Jesus can give. This is more than simply observing events from afar. It's an opportunity to step into what God is doing through your gift. Visit us today at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call to help bring the hope of salvation to Israel right now.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: If you feel God leading you to stand with us, go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call us at 800-777-7835 and give. Thank you so much for your financial support. And now, back to the second half of today's lesson.

Dustin Roberts: If God is calling you to give to Discovering The Jewish Jesus a gift of any amount, please give us a call right now. You can reach us at 800-777-7835 or give online just by visiting our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Your generosity helps bring the unadulterated truth of God's word to people all around the world, and we're really grateful for your support.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I'm trying to help you grasp the fact that God's love for you is always consistent. This should give you security in life. The devil makes us think sometimes that God draws back from us in his love, that his favor is drawn back from us because of our falling or shortcoming. God's love and favor will never fail you. He will treat us differently according to how we respond to him because he's in the process of conforming us to the image of his Son and training us how to walk in obedience and righteousness.

The truth is God's love for you and me, and his grace towards us, and his favor towards us will never fail. Don't let the enemy cause you to fall into deception, thinking that God has forsaken you because you're not perfect or because you messed up. No, God wants us to be secure in the covenant relationship he has with us. He'll never fail us. He'll never leave us or forsake us.

Let me read it one more time before I go to the final verse that I want to read today. "Do not fear, you worm Jacob." He's speaking to you and me. "Do not fear, you worm. You might be weak. You might be afraid, but do not fear. I will help you," declares the Lord. "Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel." We can trust him. That's what our confidence is in. Our confidence is not in ourselves. Our confidence is not in our own ability to never fall. Our confidence is not in our own ability to never stumble. No, our confidence is in him.

Finally today, God is encouraging Jacob, Israel, you and me to face our enemies. Remember, he just got done saying here, "Do not be afraid of your enemy. All those that are angered at you, they're going to fall. Do not fear all those that came against you." He said they're going to become as nothing. Do not be afraid. And now we find the reward of going through these battles where people come against us. Listen. The Lord said in verse 11, "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored. Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish."

Obviously, God is speaking to Israel. He's speaking to you and me in the midst of a battle. This is written when God's people are facing an enemy that wants to snuff them out. God is saying, "No, I'm going to get you through this thing and I'm going to defeat your enemy." You and I are going to go through this battle. This is spoken to Israel as they're going through a battle. God gets Israel to the other side. The enemies are no more to be seen; they perished. They're non-existent.

The Lord is going to do the same thing in our life. We're going to face battles, hard times. The Lord says, "Do not fear. I'm going to get you through this hard time. I'm going to get you through this difficulty. You're going to come out the other side and that difficulty is going to be gone. It's going to be behind you." Not only will the difficulty be behind you, but God says, "I'm going to add to your life because you went through it."

Verse 15 says this: "Behold, after Israel's through the battle, Behold, I have made you a new sharp threshing sledge with double edges. You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them and make hills like chaff." When you and I go through battles clinging to Hashem, clinging to Father God, you know what happens? We're transformed by his strength. Paul learned the lesson that God's power is perfected in our weakness. Paul was facing a battle. He called the battle he was facing a messenger of Satan. Paul began to cry out to the Lord in the middle of this demonic assault that he was experiencing.

Three times he says I cried out. He heard the Holy Spirit speak to him, "Paul, my grace is going to get you through this thing. My grace is sufficient, and my power will be perfected in your weakness. As you go through this battle clinging to me, calling out to me, you're going to be receiving my strength and you're going to come out of this thing like the Lord says here in Isaiah. 'Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges. You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them and will make the hills like chaff.'"

God is using the battle to transform us. God is using what Satan means for evil for good in your life. That's why the Scripture admonishes us to count it all joy when we go through various difficulties and battles because we should know that going through these are transforming us into threshing sledges with double edges. We're being made strong. We're learning how to use the word of God in the battle. We're coming out the other side of this thing shining in a new level of righteousness and glory, being trained in the battle how to use the word of God like a sword against our enemy.

Dustin Roberts: I want to encourage you, beloved one, today. When you face a battle, don't take a victim mentality on. When you face a battle, don't allow yourself to fall into an attitude of defeat. When you face a foe, don't let your first response be to call a friend. Instead, when you face a battle, when you face a foe, when you face a challenge, when you face pain, let your first response be to thank God.

Thank you, Father God, that this difficulty is being used by you to fortify me, to make me a threshing sledge, to cause the roots of my relationship with you to go deeper, to train me to walk in righteousness, to strengthen me to rise above it, that I'll walk on water in the spirit world even as Yeshua walked on water. Thank you that you use these battles, that you use my enemies to make me strong, to perfect me and make me like a double-edged sword that cuts between the soul and the spirit.

I want to speak into your soul right now a victor mentality, a winner mentality. Our praise of the Lord should not be up and down depending on whether we're experiencing easy times or hard times. Our praise in the Lord should be consistent every day, whether we're facing an easy time or we're in the midst of a battle because God is causing it all to work together for good to conform us to the image of his Son and to cause us to become overcomers.

Battles are part of the process. I speak over your life right now, beloved one, power. I speak over your mind right now a renewing so that you'll be able to interpret what is going on around you through the word of God, that you're not going to be overwhelmed by the winds and waves of your circumstances, but you'll face them head-on, praising Jesus, knowing as you walk with him through the difficulty and through the battle that he is turning you into a flaming sword of fire and you're going to keep on rising higher and higher.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It is important that we put God first in every area of our lives. It concerns me that it seems that so many people today are trying to use God for an experience, but they're not being obedient. I think of many, many people that are going to churches. They love the worship music, but they're not being obedient to God's word. Jesus said, "Unless a man picks up his cross, denies himself and follows me, he cannot be my disciple." Sacrificial obedience is the only way to truly walk hand in hand with God.

This is why it's important how we handle our finances. Going back to the first book of the Bible with Abraham all the way through the New Testament, we see that those that truly walk with God honor him in every area of their lives, including their finances. I want to just ask you today, if Discovering The Jewish Jesus is being used by Father God in your life to be a blessing, would you honor him with your finances through this ministry? Thank you for your love and for your financial support.

Dustin Roberts: If God is calling you to give to Discovering The Jewish Jesus a gift of any amount, please give us a call right now. You can reach us at 800-777-7835 or give online by visiting our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Your generosity helps bring the unadulterated truth of God's word to people all around the world, and we're really grateful for your support. As a token of our appreciation, we want to send you our latest newsletter and we'll also send you Rabbi's monthly teaching booklet.

Your generosity helps bring the unadulterated truth of God's word to people all around the world, and we're really grateful for your support. As a token of our appreciation, we want to send you our latest newsletter and we'll also send you Rabbi's monthly teaching booklet. If you're looking to transform your daily spiritual walk this year, be sure to check out Rabbi Schneider on Roku TV. His inspiring and sometimes challenging messages are available for free right now.

You can experience the passionate teaching style of Rabbi in crystal clear HD right from the comfort of your living room or wherever you have a Roku television. To learn more about our Roku TV channel and all the other ways that you can listen to Rabbi, visit us at our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Thanks so much for listening today. And now, here's Rabbi Schneider to speak God's sacred and special Hebrew blessing over our lives. First, he'll sing it in Hebrew and then speak it in English. Rabbi?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What I love about the Aaronic Blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the Book of Numbers, chapter 6. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today.

[Sings the Aaronic Blessing in Hebrew]

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and Shalom.

Dustin Roberts: This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus, and I'm your host, Dustin Roberts. Make sure to come back next week when Rabbi Schneider reveals the details of God's supernatural presence. That's Monday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.