Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

Dearly Beloved,

Meditate on God’s Word, and trust Him with your life. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will NOT fail you. 

PSALM 91 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

Love & Blessings,

Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

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A Real Enemy

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

1 Peter 5:8 

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

If we want to be victorious in our  lives, then we must never forget who our adversary is! The Bible is very clear that our enemy isn’t a single little demon but rather a whole confederacy of evil spirits! How many times in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did YESHUA cast out demons? Over and over again we read about Him and His disciples speaking with authority over multiple evil spirits. Why then can we read such accounts and praise GOD for His demonstrations of power and yet forget that those demonic forces are still active in our world today! 

The enemy is very busy right now in our current situation with the spread of the Coronavirus, putting panic and fear in much of the world through the help of the media! We need to remember that fear is from the devil. Our GOD has not given us a spirit of fear! We can’t walk in fear and faith at the same time! 

This pandemic is a real test for the reality of our faith and the relevance of our doctrines!

Our sovereign GOD is always in control!

Satan lost at the cross and is a defeated foe; he only has as much power over us that we give him! 

Let’s humble ourselves today, pray and seek GOD’S face! Our almighty GOD is bigger than any virus!

Love & Blessings,

Pastor Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

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Negative Confession

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

When we allow doubt and unbelief to take root in our minds and then begin to speak negatively about our circumstances, we then hinder our prayers. We cannot pray and ask GOD to move in our situations and then speak something negative! When we pray and ask GOD to do something, we shouldn’t turn around and say, “I’m afraid GOD will not come through for me.” That is a negative confession!

The words we speak are containers for power; they carry either a life-giving force or a destructive force! Don’t ever underestimate the importance of our words because they truly can make a difference in our circumstances and in our prayers! 

Remember the words we speak represent who we are because they reveal what is in our hearts.

Matthew 12:34

Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it.

When GOD hears a prayer followed by a negative confession, He does not respond. But when He hears a prayer that is accompanied with words that express confidence in Him, He delights to answer!

 

Love & Blessings,

Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

Priority of Prayer

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

Without daily fellowship with our ABBA FATHER through MESSIAH YESHUA, He may seem like a stranger. You can’t ever really know someone without communication! Prayer is our avenue to that! GOD (the creator of this universe) knows you inside and out, but unless you make prayer a priority, you will never know Him! To miss out on knowing your Creator intimately is a great tragedy!

The  life of a MESSIAH FOLLOWER in YESHUA isn’t merely about how much you serve, how generously you give or how faithfully you attend a congregation! All these things should result from a close relationship with ABBA! We need to prioritize our time to be alone with Him in prayer and meditation of His Word to experience His awesome presence!

Mark 1:35

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, Yeshua went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Just as the Scripture said, even though YESHUA was the sinless Son of GOD and Deity Himself, He made prayer a priority! He is our greatest example! Prayer is the lifeblood of our existence as a Messianic Believer!

Love & Blessings,

Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

Click here to read more blogs from Pastor Bruce & Suzi

Friend of God

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

One key to effective prayer is approaching GOD as His friend. When we don’t know GOD as a friend, we are reluctant to ask Him for anything; we don’t feel we’ve “earned it” with our good behavior! So our confidence that He is listening is easily undermined. 

We need to see ourselves as close friends with GOD! You may be thinking that becoming friends with GOD seems like a difficult thing to do. But if you are a follower of Yeshua, you are already His friend. Friendship is based on sharing openly and honestly. Our Scripture today tells us Yeshua shared everything with us! 

John 15:15 

“I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are My friends, since I have told you everything the Father told Me.”

When we begin to see ourselves as GOD’s friend through MESSIAH YESHUA, our prayers become much bolder and full of faith. It is all up to you whether you want to be a casual friend or a close intimate friend! The choice is yours!

Love & Blessings,

Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

Click here to read more blogs from Pastor Bruce & Suzi

Teach Us to Pray

Encouraging Words with Pastor Bruce & Suzi Elman

You and I can be sincere Messianic believers eager to please GOD in all we do and still have honest questions about prayer. Even though YESHUA’s disciples spent a lot of personal time with Him, they still felt the need to ask Him to teach them how to pray!

YESHUA helped them (Luke 11:2-4), and I believe that when we ask Him, He will help us too. As a result, we will not only experience increased effectiveness, freedom and enjoyment in our prayer life but also greater closeness in our relationship with Him! 

We should not be intimidated by the idea of prayer; we should actually look forward to spending time doing something that is meant to come naturally—like breathing!

Luke 11:1

Now it came to pass as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.”

Our Creator loves us and longs for fellowship with us everyday! We can and should pray anywhere, anytime and about anything! Nothing is too big or too small; your Creator wants to hear it all!

Love & Blessings,

Bruce and Suzi Elman

L’Chaim Messianic Congregation

Click here to read more blogs from Pastor Bruce & Suzi