The Missing Link

The Missing Link

By

Gary Primo

Jan. 11, 2014

Ever since I read the Bible for the very first time, I had the feeling that something was missing in man’s spiritual condition. I mean we have all the preachers out there telling us all how we can attain the glory of Yahuwah, yet we are no closer to Yahuwah than we were the day we were baptized. I feel the problem lies in being overly focused on the physical (milk) and not being focused enough on the (meatier) spiritual aspects of our walk.

As far as I am concerned, the only true model we should be patterning ourselves after is that of the Messiah and his apostles. Their words were verified by Yahuwah via various works (miracles) of the spirit – such as feeding the masses with 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread, raising Lazarus from the dead, calming the winds and walking on water. The apostles also had their works verified by Yahuwah in similar “miracles”.

However, since the days of the apostles, we have heard of precious few miracles following any religious leader. The only answers I have received were, “God doesn’t work that way anymore.” and, “The apostles were actual eye witnesses to the death and resurrection of the Messiah”. I say poppy-cock!

The following are the core samples of what fruit is to follow when we preach the gospel of truth.

Gal. 5:22- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Of the seven, the first and the seventh (love and faith) are the most crucial to developing the other 5. First and foremost, we are to be taking on and reflecting the love and nature of Yahuwah in all that we think, say and do. The thing that motivates us to learn to love as Yahuwah does is our faith. If we do not have (true) faith, we will not be interested in learning the love of Yahuwah.

In the beginning, I believe it was intended that each man have his own individual relationship with Yahuwah. There were no religions. There were no churches. Both came later and were the inventions of men for the purposes of gaining wealth and control over the masses. So far it has worked quite well in that regard. However, as far as furthering our spiritual development, these two institutions have done nothing but remove us further away from Yahuwah than closer. Mankind tends to place all his faith in his religion or church rather than on Yahuwah. I attribute this to laziness and lack of faith. It is much easier to have someone else seek all the answers and report back to us every Sabbath (or Sunday) than do roll up our sleeves and do the work ourselves.

When we preach in the spirit, spiritual signs should naturally follow us – as they did the apostles. The church was beset by imposters early into its debut. Most of these men were seeking either a following of their own or were priests of Mithra seeking to sabotage the teaching of the apostles.

Through their teachings, the apostles saw thousands of people convert in a single day. Considering that their only means of communication in those days was word of mouth that is quite an amazing accomplishment. I would dare to say that even with our much more advanced technology in communications, conversion rates are diminishing rather than exploding. A lot of the Christian youths are even switching to different religions. Why? Because they do not see Yahuwah in the religion they belong to. They only hear a lot of talk.

23 - Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

There is no law against seeking the fruits of the spirit. In fact, when we achieve these fruits, we are no longer under the law at all – because it is forever more an integral part of who were are. It becomes our very nature and we will only to become closer to Yahuwah.

There are two basic categories of sin – sin against the Creator and sin against the creation. When we sin against the Creator, we automatically sin against the creation. And, when we sin against the creation, we automatically sin against the Creator. Since all of creation is interconnected and dependant on everything else, our sin creates a ripple effect that affects everything else in the universe. That is why the entire creation is awaiting the coming of the glory of man. Sin will no longer compromise the workings of the creation.

24 - And they that are HaMashiyack’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

By flesh, the author means our old sinful nature. We must crucify that old spirit and lay it to rest somewhere. We must take on the spirit of Yahuwah, the spirit of righteousness. We are to e no longer of the flesh but of the spirit.

25 - If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We are to be living and walking as if we were already born of the new creation. We are to see ourselves as spiritual creatures, no longer physical. We are to be thinking, talking and acting as full spirit beings.

26 - Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

I saw a lot of this while in my former church. The well-to-do were always surrounded by admiring “groupies” who envied their position. Those in special positions of prominence acted all puffed up and proud; yet, I saw absolutely no more fruit of the spirit following them than any other member. When one lay member began healing people she was accused of witchcraft and disfellowshipped. Her faith was condemned by the authorities of the church rather than praised.

Eph. 5:9 - (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 - Proving what is acceptable unto Yahuwah.

When the fruit of the spirit follows us, it demonstrates that we have proven ourselves acceptable to Yahuwah. Therefore, it only stands to reason that we are not yet acceptable to Yahuwah if these fruits do not follow us.

11 - And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 - For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13 - But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Is there anything we do that we try to keep secret from other Believers or Yahuwah, himself? If so, we must end these “secret” sins and have nothing to be ashamed of when we stand before Yahuwah. All of our secret sins will be revealed when exposed to the light of judgment.

14 - Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and HaMashiyack shall give thee light.

If we are not pursuing this fruit with all earnestness, we are yet dead/asleep. We may have buried the old sinful man, but have not arisen as a new creation yet. To arise from the dead, we must be seeking this fruit. When we do, Yahushua will give us light.

James 3:13 - Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 - But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

Our words convey much more than we think. Therefore, it is wise to carefully consider our words before we speak them. Otherwise they will reveal the envy and strife that is in our hearts.

15 - This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 - For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

There is earthly wisdom and there is heavenly wisdom. I am sure you can guess which the better is. It is the heavenly wisdom we are to seek after, not the earthly. With earthly wisdom, man is only fueling his/her own ego. The reality is that there is nothing that man knows that Yahuwah did not already know. Therefore, our wisdom pales in comparison to Yahuwah’s.

The earthly is sensual and devilish. In other words, we tend to follow after things that titillate our natural, physical senses, rather than anything spiritual. We must resist these tendencies and seek after the spiritual things first – in everything we think, say and do.

17 - But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 - And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

The prospect of achieving peace should be in everything we say and do. This is not an easy task, because humans are naturally warlike and quarrelsome. We can rarely have a peaceful debate without raising our voices to clarify our position and belittling our opponents.

Of course there were times that Yahushua raised his voice and became angry with his critics, but that was what is known as righteous anger. Since Yahushua was 100% righteous, he was within his rights to become righteously angry. We cannot make such a claim. Therefore, we should debate in all humility and always consider that we may be wrong.

However, if we seek peace and pursue peace in all earnestness, this should be no problem for us.

Conclusion

One thing that I have talked about often is the tendency of most Believers to assume that whatever they have been taught is the truth and the fulfillment of all knowledge. Nothing can be further from the truth. Some know of the true Sabbath and think that is all they need to know to guarantee their salvation. Some think the same way about the law, the annual Sabbaths, the set-apart Names, etc. I maintain that these are only the beginning of knowledge and that we are to continue searching for even greater knowledge – especially knowledge that will bring us into a closer and more intimate relationship with the Father.

Then there is the question of faith. Do we have the same degree of faith that Yahushua had? If our answer is no (which it should be, if honest), then we have a lot of work to do in this area as well. Yahushua’s faith and confidence in his relationship with Yahuwah was so great, that he harbored no doubts when he performed great works that his Father was going to back him up. We do not heal people because we doubt. We do not calm the winds because we doubt. We do not walk on water because we doubt. I am as guilty of this as the next guy and my finger is pointing first at myself. If we are truly confident in our relationship with Yahuwah, we should have no doubts.

We never heard of Yahushua asking “If it is your will, Father, could you please calm the winds and sea”. No! He had all confidence and faith in his relationship with the Father. He knew the answer without having to ask. THAT IS FAITH!

I have related this story before, but it is worth repeating. Some years back, my mother was suffering from extremely high blood pressure. We were all quite worried about her. I made the decision one day to step out in faith and ask my siblings (in an email) to fast and pray for her on a certain day. In doing so I was seeking to glorify Yahuwah name before my siblings and my mother.

I never did follow up to find out who did or did not participate. However, on that very day, my mother went to the drug store to test her blood pressure (as was her habit) and found that it had dropped drastically to just above the normal range. She was so astounded she thought that there must be something wrong with the machine; so she bought her own pressure testing machine and tested herself again when she got home. She got the same reading she had gotten at the drug store. She continued to take her blood pressure every day after that and it remained around the same.

This was an example of faith, and Yahuwah affirmed His pleasure by performing my request. I have never heard a word about it afterward from any of my siblings, so, as far as I know, I may have been the only one participating in the fasting and prayer on that day. Yet, because of my faith, Yahuwah honoured my request anyway. That is what I am talking about. The fruits of the spirit are the rewards of faith. No faith = no rewards.

Again, we need to be walking in the spirit from the day we put off the old man of sin. We must think of ourselves as having already graduated to the new creation and are full spirit beings with ALL faith and confidence in our relationship with Yahuwah. We should not doubt – ever!

When we are filled with faith and confidence (and harbour no doubts) in our relationship with Yahuwah, we should be able to walk through a hospital and heal everyone, walk on water, calm the storms and even raise the dead. These are the things we will be capable of in the new creation. These are the things we should be doing right now if we are truly walking in the spirit. If not, we have no right to declare that we truly children of Yahuwah, fully reflecting His image. Again, my finger is pointing at myself first.

Testing the spirit (say, like in jumping off a cliff to see if Yahuwah will save you) is not an act of faith, but of doubt. That is why Yahushua did not fall for Satan’s ploy when tempted atop the mountain. Yahuwah only rewards faith – not doubt.

Many professing Believers have fallen into the trap of having all confidence in their present understanding of spiritual matters. Therefore, they lie down and fall asleep thinking that all they have to do is wait on the Day of Yahuwah and they will have it “made in the shade”. Nothing could be further from the truth! We cannot afford to assume any such thing. We must work daily at growing in faith and confidence – studying Yahuwah’s word constantly, searching for all truth and knowledge until we draw our last breath.

I am sure that none of us want to fall short of the mark when it comes to our salvation. We need to start thinking, talking and acting like this is our only motive for living. We need to use the stature of Yahushua to measure ourselves against. If we do not measure up, we can hardly afford to lie down and go to sleep. In doing so, we are merely returning to the dead, rather than rising to the world of the living.

Yahuwah Bless

G.P.