Rabbi Schneider - Embrace the Celebratory, Joyful Spirit of God
Not many years ago the Lord spoke to me. And when I say this to you, I want you to hear me. I say this before Him. I'm not saying this lightly. The Spirit of the Lord literally spoke, the living Word of God spoke to me audibly. I didn't hear Him with my ears but I heard Him, I mean, pinpoint clear in my spirit. I heard the words exactly. And the Lord said to me, He said, "Rejoice continually and you'll overcome every obstacle. Rejoice continually," he said to me, "and you'll overcome every obstacle. Rejoice continually and you'll overcome every obstacle".
How do we rejoice continually? We rejoice continually by knowing that this thing that we're dealing with is going to pass and we're going to come out from this thing victorious, and it's going to be crushed under our feet. Whatever you're facing the Lord wants us to develop an attitude of rejoicing in the midst of the trial, knowing that that thing that's going to break, that we're going to come out of it shining even more brightly because the Lord causes all things to work together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.
During this season of Tabernacles, I want to encourage you, for your own sake, to be able to please the Lord and bring Him joy, I would encourage you to take stock of every good thing that you have in your life and be thankful for it. We've all heard the analogy that some people see a glass that's half full of water, and they look at the glass as being half empty, and they're down. Other people look at the glass as being half full, and they say, "Thank God, I've got something to drink".
I want to encourage you not to look at what you don't have but to be thankful indeed for what you do have. This is a statement that I want you to remember. The rich person is not the person that has everything they want. That's not what makes a person rich. Because people that have everything they want oftentimes find that they're still unsatisfied because they haven't understood the art of how to be grateful. A rich person, beloved one, is not the person that has everything they want. But rather a truly wealthy person is an individual that has cultivated an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude for what they do have.
Some people don't have much but they've cultivated an attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness, and they're happy people because they walk in thankfulness. Other people have so much more than they're unhappy because they're always focusing on what they don't have. And so this is a time where the Lord commands us to do two things: to celebrate and to rejoice. Celebrate and rejoice. Celebrate and rejoice. You know, a lot of times we don't understand or think about or contemplate the fact that God is a happy God. We see so much negativity going around in this world because the devil is on the planet here.
Jesus in the book of Revelation wrote to one of his churches and He said, "I know where you dwell". He said, "You dwell where Satan's throne is". We have an enemy on the earth right here. And so we're seeing a lot of negative things going on. Car wrecks, wars, poverty, health problems, division, hatred, strife, chaos, confusion. We can name on and on and on all the things that we can see around us and identify that are downers, are negative. But what the Lord wants us to do is to see all the good things that are happening in our lives and around us. Because not only is the devil working on the planet, but God's on the planet.
And the Lord wants us to focus on Him and His goodness. And this is a season, the season of Sukkot and tabernacles, to reshift and to refocus on all the good things and to stay. Now, let's take a pause for a second. I want to share with you a remarkable, profound truth that relates directly, beloved one, to what I've just shared. I'm going out to the Brit Chadasha (the New Testament). I want you to consider this. Jesus's first miracle recorded in John 2 was that He turned the water to wine at a wedding.
John 2 says, "This was the first of Jesus miracles where He showed his glory". I want you to think about this. Jesus' first miracle was turning the water to wine at a wedding celebration. What's the point? Why would Jesus make that His first miracle? I think to highlight the fact, beloved, that our God is a celebratory God. He's a celebratory God. And so He chose to do His first miracle in an atmosphere of joy and celebration. And it's a call to us to enter into that type of a mindset, to cultivate that type of a heart to walk in an attitude of victory by practicing rejoicing.
In Deuteronomy 16, we read about how the Lord commanded all of Israel to come to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and to present to Him a special Thanksgiving offering there. And each man was commanded to give as he was able. I just want to encourage you, beloved one, if you really want to enter into the spirit of the Feast of Tabernacles, we've got to, first of all, think about honoring Hashem, honoring the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ with a financial offering. Because it's a way of giving back to Him. It's a way of showing Him that we love Him, appreciate Him and honor Him and acknowledge Him for all the good that has come into our lives.
So I just want to encourage you today that if God is using Discovering The Jewish Jesus to bless you, to consider presenting your special offering to Father God during this time of year through this ministry. Beloved, it's a joy to give! And knowing that it always comes back to us, pressed down, good measure, running into our lap, what an exclamation mark on it!