Rabbi Schneider - Controlling Your Soul
We're continuing our journey today with David Melech, King David, the king of Israel through Psalm number 103. The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. In fact, the person in the entire Word of God that Jesus most closely identifies Himself with is David. At the end of the book of Revelation, Yeshua says, I'm coming back soon and He says, I am the offspring of David. So there's something very, very special about David Melech, King David's life. And to get a glimpse into the heart of David and the way he related to HaShem, to Father God, we've been studying Psalm 103 because there are tremendous lessons and applications for our life there.
Psalm number 103 begins as I've been teaching in the earlier episodes in this series with David saying, "Bless the LORD O my soul and all that is within me, I bless Your holy name". And then David continues on and he says, I will not forget any of your benefits. And David then through the rest of the Psalm lists all the benefits that HaShem, that Father God, had imparted and gifted him with in life. And because David was aware of the benefits, he was able to be thankful focusing on what he had rather than what he didn't have. David had a lot of struggles in his life. David went through a lot of hard times but his attitude was an attitude of thanksgiving. He had an attitude of gratitude because he was aware of all the goodness that HaShem had showered upon his life. And I'm trying to bring you and I into a place of correction in our soul's disposition, because too many of us are trapped in an attitude of frustration, focused on what's not going right rather than on having an attitude of being grateful.
And by studying these particular benefits that are outlined in Psalm number 103, and see how the same benefits that Father God lavished upon David, He's lavishing upon all His children in some measure; by becoming more aware of this, we're able to make a soul correction and move out of walking in an attitude of bitterness or in an attitude of feeling oppressed, or an attitude of focusing on lack, to instead walking, beloved, with the spirit of praise and like I said, in my earlier broadcast, I'll never forget the man in my life that I knew for many years, he was struggling with many circumstantial issues but whenever I said to him, how are you my brother? He would always say the same thing, better than I deserve. That's a mouthful there because every single one of us, you and me included, you know what? At the end of the day, we're doing better than we deserve. We didn't deserve to be created, it was God's gift to us. And number two, if God gave you and I what we deserved, we would have been destroyed and we'd be suffering in hell and in darkness right now.
So let's continue on. David thanked the LORD, we saw last week, for forgiving his iniquity, for pardoning all his iniquity and verse number three, he thanked the Lord for redeeming his life from the pit and we're gonna continue now in verse number five. Go back and watch the earlier episodes, they're definitely worth spending time focusing on because it will help you to make an adjustment in your life that will allow you to lead life in a fuller measure by focusing on HaShem's blessings to you. Look in verse number five. David said, "He satisfies your years with good things, who satisfies your years with good things," and then he went on to say, "so that your youth is renewed like the eagle". Let me make a couple comments. There's really two things that David just focused on. Number one, that He satisfies our years with good things.
Now, some may be watching right now and the devil's got you trapped in a spirit of bitterness and you're thinking, what good thing do I have? Maybe you're a little older and you're having a hard time getting along. Maybe your kids aren't coming to see you or maybe you're dealing with pain in your body. I realize that is extremely difficult but the Bible says you can do all things through Messiah Jesus, through Christ, that strengthens you. And God has called us to walk in joy. He's called us to walk with an attitude of thanksgiving.
You may be struggling right now but I want you to come out of that and I want you to ask yourself, has Father God brought good things into my life? Didn't He number one create you? Aren't you going to heaven? Did He give you anything in your life that ever brought you pleasure? Did you ever go on vacation? Did anybody ever show you love? Did anybody ever show you kindness? Did you grow up in a good family? And did you enjoy the outdoors when you were younger? Are you able still to get pleasure out of looking at God's beautiful creation? Can you still enjoy the food that you eat? Do you still have any taste left? Are you able to see? Do you have any relationships that you get satisfaction from? Are there other pleasures in life that you enjoy? Every single one of these that adds to our joy, every single pleasure that we have ever experienced or that we're capable of experiencing right now, beloved, it's the gift of God. It's the gift of HaShem and we should respond to it by being thankful. We need to respond to the Lord by being thankful. God is good and He's looking for us to respond.
Remember Yeshua told the story about the 10 lepers. He healed 10 but only one came back and gave thanks. Jesus said, where are the other nine? Weren't they healed too? I believe that's probably characteristic of humanity in general. Only 10% of humanity is thanking HaShem, thanking Father God for all the good that He's brought into their life. If you want more of God's goodness to be realized in your life, beloved one, thank Him for what He's already done. And let's get our focus off of the negative and onto the positive, it is a choice. We're self aware, we can decide if we're gonna be thankful or if we're gonna be bitter. So number one, David was thankful for every good gift that the Lord had ever brought into his life. "I'm gonna thank Him," David said, "for satisfying my years with good things" and then David said, "so that your youth is renewed like the eagle".
Now, what does this mean where David is saying that our youth is renewed like the eagle? I want you to know you may be sitting somewhere right now and you're feeling well, like my youth isn't renewed like the eagle. Again, I'm speaking particularly for some of us as we're aging and we're dealing with things in our life and in our body, perhaps that we never dealt with when we were younger, maybe our eyesight's going bad and all the other things, I understand that. The Bible tells us that the outer man is decaying, Paul told us. The outer man is decaying but the inner man is being renewed according to the Word of God, day by day.
So we're not talking about your outer man right now being renewed. It will be when you meet God face to face which is gonna be very soon, but I'm talking about the person that you really are because the person that you and I really are it's not the outer man. It's not our hair. It's not the color of our eyebrows. It's not our hands, all that's going to fade away, right? We're gonna leave our bodies. It's not your outer man right now that's being renewed necessarily, even though God does bring restoration at times to our physical bodies, but I'm talking about your inner man. If you are really pursuing God. If you're really drinking of the living water of the Spirit that Jesus promised everyone that hungers and thirsts after Him and goes after Him will receive, if you're really going after God in spirit and in truth, you know what? Your inner man is being renewed. David thanked the Lord here that he says "He renews my youth," David said, "like the eagle".
I was just visiting a friend of mine a few days ago. She's 91 years old. She's known the Lord for like 50 years. Every time I see her, it's like she just got saved last week. Every time I see her, she's got a new joy, she's got a new revelation, she's got a new spirit of God just coming upon her. She's never stopped hungering. She's never stopped thirsting and at 91 years old, when I walked into her apartment again just a few days ago, the instant I laid my eyes on her, I saw the dew of heaven on her face. Yeah, her hair is all gray. Yeah, she could hardly walk. Yeah, she's bound to her apartment and she doesn't get out. Yet heaven was resting on her face. There was a peace. There was a youth. There was a beauty. And I said, I'm witnessing it. As I looked at her, I said in my heart, I'm witnessing the reality of God's Word. That truly those that are His, that put Him first, He will be their portion even when their hairs are gray. And that even at 90 we'll be being renewed day by day so that our youth is being renewed like an eagle.
Beloved ones, God's promises are reality. You can sink your teeth into them. Those that are gonna please God must believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Will you go after God? I can promise you this, if you'll go after Him and make Him first in your life, He will never leave you, He'll never forsake you and like Jesus that saved the good wine til last when He performed His first miracle, the best years of your life will be the last years of your life because the power of God will come stronger and stronger and stronger upon you, being developed through your soul, your soul will more and more come into unity with HaShem, with Father God and even though your outer man is decaying, your inner man just as David said in his Psalm here will be being renewed and rising up, even with the strength of an eagle.
Let's continue on. Verse number six, let's forget none of His benefits. As we move on here we see this, "The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses and His acts to the sons of Israel". And I simply would like to point out here, that as we look at God's Word, and see some of the things that He did for Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and the patriarchs, and the prophets, know this, that the same God, YHWH, the God of Israel, that showed Himself strong on behalf of the life of the ancient prophets, the fathers and the patriarchs, He's still doing the same things today, beloved, for His children. He's still showing Himself. He said, He made known His way to Moses, we just got done reading. He helps the oppressed.
Let's read again, I wanna tell you a story. "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel". And in the previous verse, "The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed". Let me give you a modern-day example that actually just happened in my life, how God made Himself known just like He made Himself known to Moses and how He lifted up the oppressed. We really started focusing here on Discovering The Jewish Jesus on bringing the revelation of Yeshua as Messiah, of Jesus as Messiah, to the nation of Israel years ago. And the more and more opportunity that the Lord has given me into the Holy Land, into Israel, the more I have felt the reproach and the rejection of the larger Jewish community, my brother and according to the flesh.
You know, Jesus was a Jew, but the Bible says that Jesus came unto His own, the Jewish people, and His own received Him not. And Jesus told us in the Gospel, if they rejected Me, they will reject you. And He said, the time is coming where they're gonna put you out of the synagogue. Well, I would have you to know my beloved friends and partners that myself as a Jewish person, I've experienced those things. I've experienced the rejection from my larger Jewish community in a very, very heavy and weighty way. Some of you may not realize how rare it is for a Jewish person like myself, to not only believe but to boldly declare to the Jewish people that Yeshua HaMashiach is the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. He is the one that Moses wrote about. He is the one that Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah 53. He is the one that Daniel talked about when Daniel said I saw one like a Son of Man coming up to the Ancient of Days.
There are so few Jewish believers in the world like myself that are boldly proclaiming that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Tanakh, of the Torah, of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. And as I have entered deeper into the nation of Israel, into the Jewish world, to be able to proclaim Yeshua by the grace of HaShem, Father God, opening those doors for me, I have felt more and more rejection, more and more reproach, and it's become more and more of a grievesome thing to my heart. It makes me very sad sometimes when I think about all the people that I love, all the Jewish people that I love, including even my own flesh and blood and I'm rejected by them because of my faith in Jesus.
Did you know that any Jew from anywhere in the world can go to Israel and make it their home as long as they truly are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? In other words, if your mom or dad is Jewish, and you're anywhere in the world, you can make aliyah, they look first of all your mom but then if your dad is Jewish, they'll take a look at that as well. My mom and dad are both fully Jewish. In fact, at my wife's surging, just because she was doing it with all the family, she wanted me to send in my DNA to ancestry.com. My DNA test came back, 100% European Jew. I'm 100% Jewish. My mom is Jewish, dad's Jewish, I was bar mitzvahed in a Jewish synagogue but yet did you know I'm the only type of Jew that cannot make aliyah, I cannot go to Israel and get citizenship there. Any other Jew from anywhere in the world, if they can prove that they're Jewish, can move to Israel and be granted instant citizenship but I'm the exception. Their law states that if you're a Jew that believes in Jesus, you're no longer considered Jewish, you're converted to another religion.
Well, I'm not converted to another religion. I'm a Jew. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He hung on the cross with a sign above his head, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. He's coming back as the lion from the tribe of Judah according to the book of Revelation. I didn't convert to another religion. I received the Jewish Messiah but like Jesus that was rejected by the larger Jewish world, so am I and so are others like me. And it causes me great pain and brings great sadness into my heart. And now more than ever, I feel that. So just the other day, I'm sharing with you how God, we're getting back to the Psalm, still makes His ways known today like He did to Moses. And how He still helps the oppressed. Just the other day here, I was in my studio. And let me just give you just one more bit of background information.
When I was in Israel just recently, somebody came up to me to present me with a gift. I was ministering in Israel and somebody came up to me after I got done ministering and they made for me a crown of thorns. You know, the crown of thorns is what Jesus wore as he was crucified on the cross, it represented the fact that he was forsaken. You know, the scripture says, who has believed our report that Jesus was not believed, He was forsaken and rejected by His own. That was what the crown of thorns symbolized that they placed on His head. So I get done ministering in Israel, somebody there gives me a crown of thorns. I said, I can't take it back, I don't have room in my suitcase. Well, they sent it to me about two and a half weeks ago, came here in the mail.
Well, just a few days ago, after I'd received that again in the mailbox two and a half weeks ago, I looked at I said, you know, I'm gonna hang this on my door going into my office here in my studio. So I put it up on the door of my office and then I come out to start producing filming for you, ministering on television for you. Same day I put the crown of thorns on my door to the office, and all of a sudden, as soon as I get done with the sermon here, the door opens into the studio, who is it? It's the man from Israel that made me and sent me the crown of thorns, I didn't even know he was coming. He came to visit a relative here in the States and he wanted to stop by and see us, the same day that I put the crown of thorns on my office door, that man from Israel showed up in my office, it showed me God is here, He's now, He's present, He brought comfort to me.
I was feeling oppressed and He was saying to me, I've given you the privilege of suffering in your life with a crown of thorns, even like me. He lifted me up, beloved ones, by helping me see that I'm just suffering like Jesus suffered. And what a privilege it is, the Scripture says, to not only have the destiny of reigning with Him but also the privilege of suffering with Him in this life as well. I want you to know, God can be as real to you as He was to King David. I want you to join me next week as we continue our journey through Psalm number 103. God loves you. He wants to continue to make Himself known to you and He will, beloved, if we only open our hearts to Him and continue to seek Him with all our hearts, strength, soul and mind.