Prince of Heaven

by David Cook

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”    Luke 1:30-33 NKJV

The birth of the Prince of Heaven is the hope of the world.

We read a prophecy about the Messiah, the Prince of Heaven in the Jewish Tanakh in the book of Isaiah;

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV

The Prince of Heaven is the Son of the Highest. He is the Prince of Peace, the promised Son of David, the Son of the living God, and is a Mighty God. The kingdom of the Messiah will last forever.

 

Have you ever considered what was going through the mind and heart of God before He gave His beloved Son to be born in Bethlehem?

 

 

Messiah’s Birth Announced to Mary

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38 NKJV

To read more of the miraculous Advent account read Luke chapters 1 & 2 and Matthew chapters 1 & 2.

Yeshua is love incarnate.  God revealed His love for the people of the world by sending His beloved Son to earth.  Yeshua gave His life as a ransom for our sins, He is our Savior!

Long ago wise men came from afar to worship the Prince of Heaven.  Wise men and women from far and wide today come before the Prince of Heaven to worship Him.

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Freedom Time

by David Cook

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
–Yeshua the Son of the living God

John 8:36 NIV

Everybody knows they are guilty of something, it could be stealing a cookie out of a cookie jar.  Or could be something more serious than stealing a cookie that haunts your conscience, day and night.

The prophet Moses wrote in the Jewish Torah;

And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 20 NIV

Ten Commandments

God gave His people ten commandments.  God gave us eight things not to do and two things to do.  Two to do and eight not to do.  Let’s take a look at them.  Don’t have any other gods, only serve YHVH (Yehovah).  Don’t make any images to bow down to worship or serve as your god.  Don’t misuse the name of the Lord your God.  Do remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. Do honor your father and your mother.  Do not murder.  Do not commit adultery.  Do not steal.  Do not give false testimony (perjury) against your neighbor.  Do not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, car, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When you obey the ten commandments given by God,

you’re showing your love for God and your love for your neighbor.  

Have you broken any of the ten commandments given by God?  Are you suffering from any guilt as a result?  How can we get set free from guilt?  How can we get set free from our sin?

Are you free or are you a slave to something?  Is there an addiction that you run to for comfort that you think will make you free but now your caught?  You’re a slave to the thing that you thought would set you free.  Perhaps it’s alcohol, cocaine, “ecstasy”, pornography sex, or gluttony.  The thing that you think will bring freedom, an escape, temporary ecstasy instead gets you hooked, ensnared and you become a slave to your own sins.

What are you a slave to?

Facing the truth is the first step towards freedom.

It’s Time to Repent

What does it mean to repent?  To turn away from evil and do good.  To turn away from your sins and turn to a loving and merciful God for mercy and forgiveness.  Judgement is coming, but there is still time to repent.

The list of sins is long.  In the book of Proverbs we read of seven sins that are detestable to the Lord.

¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates,
    seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV

Pride, lying, murder of the innocent, wicked schemes, quick to rush into do evil, perjury, stirring up strife.  Perhaps these are some of your sins, perhaps you’re a slave to other sins.

Messiah Yeshua Came to Set Us Free

How can we get set free from guilt?  How can we get set free from sin?

³¹ So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. ³⁶ So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:31-36 NASB

God has a plan.  A plan to save us from our sins.  The apostle Paul explained it to believers in Messiah Yeshua living in Rome;

²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  — Saint Paul

Romans 3:23-26 NIV

Believe in Yeshua & Receive New Life

It’s time to get real.  It’s time to face the truth.  It’s time to believe the truth.  It’s time to get free!  It’s time to come to Yeshua (Jesus).

Heartbroken & Alone

by David Cook

If you have a broken heart,
it means you really loved someone.

After a romantic breakup, if you were really in love you end up with a broken heart, feeling all alone.  Doesn’t seem to matter if you were in a romance with someone for three months or in a ten-year marriage; you are left in an emotional fog, perhaps feeling isolated and dazed.

Sexual intimacy is a divine idea, yet our Creator designed it for those who are married to one another.  Sexual union is like a super glue to bond a husband and wife to each other; body, soul and spirit.  Maybe she was thinking about “forever” maybe he wasn’t.  When two people have been involved with each other sexually outside of a marriage covenant, then when you break up it is very difficult.  You may well feel you left a part of your heart and soul with the one you broke up with and not sure how to get it back.

You may feel like you can’t go on in life without the person you broke-up with and that life no longer has any real meaning.  But life takes interesting turns and twists.  Perhaps you broke up with him (for good reasons) or perhaps he broke up with you; or maybe it was a mutual decision.

“To be rejected by someone doesn’t mean you should also reject yourself or that
you should think of yourself as a lesser person. It doesn’t mean that nobody will
ever love you anymore. Remember that only ONE person has rejected you at
the moment, and it only hurt so much because to you, that person’s opinion
symbolized the opinion of the whole world, of God.”
― Jocelyn Soriano, Mend My Broken Heart

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 NASB

Perhaps you’re feeling broken.  You may have had such high hopes for a relationship that would last forever, but in the end someone broke your heart.  And now, you’re left feeling all alone; in emotional pain and grief.  Perhaps thoughts rush through your head asking yourself; “Why it didn’t work?”  Or “How can I fix it?”  Maybe you feel devalued, comparing yourself to his (or her) new “love” interest.

After a romantic breakup it’s good to hang with your girl friends (or guys with guy friends) and family to recover.  Problem is a common thought is, “I need to go out and find someone I can hookup with to boost my ego from the pain of the breakup” (regardless of who broke up with who).  Normally you feel pain, loneliness, disconnected, rejection, and a good case of the blues.  But jumping out of the frying pan into the fire is never a good idea.  Will you go out and drink a little too much and do something crazy you will deeply regret tomorrow?  Two wrongs don’t make a right.  Does finding a shallow, self-absorbed person to have a quick fix sexual encounter with really fix your low self esteem?  Or will it just make matters worse?

When a dishwasher or washing machine breaks you call a handy man to repair what’s broken.  But how do you repair a broken heart?

Sometimes caring friends can come along side and you can share your pain.  Sometimes you may want to sort some things out for a while with a counselor.  But there is one friend who helped me sort things out…He is a wonderful counselor!  He is both human and divine.  He is better than a handy man, while He lived on earth He was a carpenter.  But He also knows how to fix broken hearts…His name is Yeshua (Jesus).  You can call on Him twenty-four hours a day.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
–Yeshua the Messiah, Son of the living God
Matthew 11:28 NASB

  “So do not worry about tomorrow;
for tomorrow will care for itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

–Yeshua the Messiah
Matthew 6:34 NASB