Dearly beloved in Yeshua,

Division

The Lord has been speaking to me about division lately, especially as I have witnessed the spirit of division working so insidiously in our country. We have racial division, gender identity division, prolife vs. pro-choice, right vs. left, vaccine vs. anti-vax, masks vs. anti-masks, conservative vs liberal, capitalism vs. socialism, federal vs. state’s rights, etc. There is an enemy whose agenda has always been to divide. His name is hasatan (satan), and he seeks to divide marriages, families, friends, neighbors, congregations, born-again believers, and even countries.

The result of these present divisions is usually a breach or dissolution of unity, which is disturbing since we know that God loves unity, especially among His children. For example, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). Concerning the Body of Messiah, Rabbi Saul (the Apostle Paul) said, “…But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:24-26). Members of Yeshua’s Body are called to bear with one another in love, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col. 3:14). Love. The Messiah Yeshua emphasized this in John 15: “This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you” (vs. 12; see also verse 17). We must guard the unity of the Body of Messiah! This kind of division (divide and conquer) grieves the heart of God.

God Also Divides

The more I meditated on division, the more I realized that while satan is busy causing division and finding people to agree with him, some division is God-generated. Not from the enemy. Good. Purposeful. The plan of God. His division begins in the first chapter of the Bible. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen. 1:3-4). “Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters” (Gen. 1:6). The Hebrew word for firmament, sky, or heavens is שמים shah-MAI-eem, shamayim, meaning “like water.” The Hebrew word for light is אור ohr. Darkness is חשך KHO-shek. God said the light was good. By implication, the darkness was not good. This division, and this light, occurred before the sun and moon were created and before God divided the waters. What was this good light? A “God Light.” The Light of Messiah? I think so. God is Light. The Apostle John declared it, “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5).

There are 54 verses in the Bible that juxtapose the relationship of light and darkness. At the Exodus, for example, the Lord placed a pillar of cloud between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, which was a cloud of darkness to the one and gave light by night to the other (Ex. 14:20). There are many verses in the Book of Job about light vs. darkness, as well as precious promises from Psalms. For example, “For you will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness” (Ps. 18:28). “Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous” (Ps. 112:4). Looking forward to the coming of Messiah, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Is. 9:2).

Light is always good. Daniel expressed this truth in Daniel 2:22, “He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.” Yeshua said, “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46). Finally, as believers, we have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

Evil hides in darkness, but light exposes it. My recent cancer diagnosis is evidence of this. The report from MD Anderson in Houston shocked not only me, but the doctors as well. They said it was the equivalent of the chances of someone being struck by lightning—very rare and infrequent. Nevertheless, the diagnosis is bilateral breast cancer. After three months of hormone therapy to reduce estrogen, we will make decisions about further treatment. I received the final report on September 2, 2021, as I was proclaiming September the MONTH OF THE KING. My daily devotional reading for 9/1/21 included the following: “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light. After a revelation of the will of God, there seems to come with eternal inevitability, ‘the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth’…This trial of faith provides the discipline of darkness for God’s child, that he may learn to trust his Father in the shadow as well as in the sunshine.” I am doing just that.

This is a “dark night of the soul” for me, a health crisis, to be sure. “BUT GOD,” as Neil always said. The truth is: “The LORD is my light (or-EE) and my salvation (yee-SHE); whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1). God is Light. God is Good. God has a hope and a future for me. His love has never failed me, and it will not fail me now. God will work this together for my good and His Glory because He is Faithful. I love Him, and He knows it!

When my husband Neil died (3/25/19), I said to the Lord, “You gave me the best husband in the world for 48 years, but now YOU are my husband (Isa. 54:5), and YOU are GOD. So, I expect YOU to be an even BETTER husband than Neil.” I sensed in my spirit that God said, “I can do that!” The other day, in reminding the Lord of this conversation, He told me that Neil would have been able to hold me, comfort me, guide me, go with me, save me, hug me, reassure me, pray for me, etc. But there is one thing Neil could never do. HEAL ME. Only God can do that. And that makes Him a better husband than Neil. I am standing on that kiss from the Lover of my soul.

I covet your prayers. I believe the Lord has also told me to put James 5:16 into practice more than ever before: “…Pray for one another, that you may be healed.” God wants me to pray for others for their healing in the midst of my own journey. Please intercede for me as I do this and know that I am asking the Lord to guide me with His Light each step of the way. (I will include both traditional and natural medicine in my healing protocol and have help locally, so PLEASE know that, although I appreciate the love, your natural recommendations are not necessary.)

God Divided Adam!

I had heard the joke, “God was the first one to divide the atom (Adam),” but never considered it until now. Yes, He did. He took part of Adam and made Eve (Genesis 2:21-22). This division was for the purpose of a great, spiritual unity. “And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, because she was taken out of man (woman: ee-SHAH; man: EESH).” “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24).

When Adam married Eve, he not only regained a lost part, but he got an addition to his own body.

This was a foreshadowing of a truth in Ephesians 5: “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church (keh-HE-lah). For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:28-30).

Yeshua, the “Last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) experienced something similar to the first Adam when He (Messiah) was crucified. His side was pierced, and a bride was taken from His side that day. She (we) became His body on this earth. Yeshua, our “Husband,” loves His Body. As we remain in Him, cleave to Him, He nourishes and cherishes us. I think we can remind the Lord of this glorious truth when we are faced with health issues. “Abba, thank You that I am a part of Your body which You cherish and nourish!”

Clean and Unclean, Holy and Unholy

Division by God proceeds in Genesis to chapter 7 where the Lord told Noah to take seven each of every clean animal (male and female) and two each of every unclean animal (male and female) (Genesis 7:2). The clean/unclean distinction occurs in 22 verses in the Bible. The second time we read about clean/unclean is in Leviticus 10 where the Lord spoke to Aaron to instruct the Levites on distinguishing between holy and unholy, referring to the statutes that the Lord gave the children of Israel through Moses. (See also Ezekiel 44:23).

Holy (קדש, KO-desh). Unholy (חל, KHOLE). Clean (טהור, tah-HOR). Unclean (טמא, tah-MAY).

God gave His People Israel dietary laws, commanding them to distinguish between the clean and the unclean, to set them apart from other peoples (Leviticus 11:47), to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 11:45). Holy vs. unholy is a concept found throughout the Bible. The word “holy” occurs in

567 verses in the Bible. It is one of God’s major divisions since He is a Holy God. He chose to divide Israel from the other nations of the world, saying, “And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” (Exodus 19:6). God divided the Sabbath day from the other six days of the week (Exodus

20:8). He divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple (Exodus 26:33). A veil divided the two sections. (Yeshua later referred to this veil as His body (Heb. 10:20).

Over and over in the Tanach, the Lord emphasizes the separation of Israel as His special treasure

(segullah, seh-goo-LAH): “…the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure…” (Deuteronomy 14:2). Moses, asking God to go with His People to not let His Presence depart from them, said: “…So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth” (Exodus 33:16). Yes, God divides.

Division in the New Covenant

The clean/unclean, holy/unholy distinctions continue in the Brit Hadasha. The Messiah says in Matthew 7:6, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine…” A continuing distinction is made between God’s people and the world. This even extends into families (Mark 13:12). Yeshua said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). This is a particularly hard saying, yet belief in Yeshua as the Son of God and the

Savior of the world does sometimes divide families. God tells us not to love our families MORE than Him. We are still to love our families—and to show them the love of God. However, the Messiah must be number one in our hearts. When He is, we can expect persecution from a world that does not know how Good and Loving God is!

The biggest division, with the greatest eternal ramifications, is expressed in Acts 4:27, “For truly against Your holy Servant Yeshua, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together.” Here is the division: The world vs. the Messiah. Who killed Yeshua? All of us. Not just the Jews! Not just the Romans! Not just the Gentiles! The sin of the entire world put Yeshua on the tree of sacrifice. God allowed this division, and, in fact, set it in motion as early as Genesis 3:15, the first Messianic prophecy, in order to save the world.

A division of flesh and spirit is emphasized in the New Covenant. In Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” In John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” In Romans 8:9, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” In Galatians 5:16-17, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

Abba, please give us the desire and the power to walk in the Spirit in these trying times.

Sheep and Goats

God continually draws a dividing line between His children and the world. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, He tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers because light has no communion with darkness. “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:17-18).

At the end of the age, the angels of God will separate the wicked from the just (Matthew 13:49). When the Son of Man (the Messiah) comes in His glory, “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'” (Matthew 25:32-34).

Who are the sheep? The ones who know the Good Shepherd, He who sits at the right hand of El Shaddai, Almighty God: Yeshua (Hebrews 8:1). Yes, the day is coming when God will divide the sheep from the goats. This refers to the coming judgment in which every person will be sentenced to a state of everlasting joy or misery. Yeshua, the Great Shepherd, is the final Judge (John 5:22). He distinguishes between those that are His and those that are not. As Matthew Henry says in his commentary, “All other distinctions will be done away; but the great one between Saints and sinners, holy and unholy, will remain forever.”

If you are reading this letter and have not yet received Yeshua (Jesus) as your Savior, Messiah and Lord, I urge you to please be reconciled to God now, before it is too late. He loves you. He died for your sins, no matter what they have been. His grace is sufficient, and He has a beautiful plan for the rest of your life here on earth. He also has a home in heaven prepared just for you. Invite Yeshua into your heart and life today — all of you for all of Him — and you will never be the same (2 Cor. 5:17).

One last word of watchfulness concerning the final division: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37-39). (See versus 40-41 for the division). Yeshua is the Ark of our Salvation. In Him, we are safe. Eternally. Please make your calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

Praying to fulfill 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”—

Love in our soon coming King,