with those of you closest to me, I have shared many of her words of wisdom she has spoken to me directly. She is a dear one to me, and I love her deeply. She has always been available to me day or night (and there is a seven-hour time difference between us). She has never ever made me feel like a burden or allowed me to sense any fatigue or weariness as she helps me, many times repeatedly with the same things. As I have navigated through some of the worst years of my life struggling to overcome grief and even depression and trying to continue to grow spiritually, she has been the primary one to sow her authentic, Spirit-birthed wisdom into me. She is the one the Heavenly Father chose to walk with me and help me through this dark valley that many times tried to consume me. And apparently, He chose me to walk beside her in some things as well.
Pietra has been ministering to the Bride of Christ for several years now, with a sharp focus on those who will work with the Bridegroom to help bring in a great harvest of souls during the tribulation. About four months ago Father lead me to begin transcribing all Pietra's YouTube teachings so she could post them in writing on her blog. She had been doing this herself beforehand, but she reached the point she knew she was going to need help. She asked the Father to send the help to her, specifically asking Him to give them a dream about it. Unbeknownst to me, I had a dream around that same time that I was transcribing her visions and messages as well as another sister who was then working close with her. I didn't know she had asked the Father to send help, and I didn't even share my dream with her at first. One day shortly after, she mentioned to me that she had asked Him for help and to give the person a related dream. Obviously at that point I couldn't tell her about my dream fast enough! We had no doubt of this divinely lead partnership, so I started transcribing for her immediately. As of the last one finished on July 7, 2023, I completed a total of 12 transcripts for her in about 3-1/2 months. In the last two weeks or so, Pietra was lead by supernatural means to stop all her ministry work and go into rest with the Father, focusing on prayer for lost souls and the harvest to come. Thinking that my transcribing had come to an end because of this, I was admittedly somewhat disappointed but obviously excited for her new assignment. The transcribing was wonderful for me as the messages were etched upon my heart as I typed. I basked in the complete assurance that I was in the Father's will assisting with His work, which was a wonderful feeling that comforted me. I share all of this to say that as of today, it has been confirmed that the transcribing is not yet over! In the last month, I had been prompted several times to transcribe some of the messages and words of wisdom that Pietra has shared with me personally -- personal messages between us through the audio option on Telegram. They were so rich in edification and truth that I knew these messages, although spoken to me in a time of need, were not just for me at all. I posted the first of these with my last blog post, "Death for Life", and I received several comments that many of you were touched by this post and her words. I even went so far at that time to speak forth an idea I had to add a tab here on this blogsite called, "Pietra's Pearls" where I can transcribe her messages to me and share them with others. Today as Pietra and I were discussing some related things and I was sharing my broken heart, she said something else to me that I knew had to be transcribed and shared. Afterwards as we were discussing this, she said to me, "I just realized something!". She proceeded to tell me that just before Father told her to stop all her ministry work (which again was about two weeks ago), she had begun working on a new tab for her blogsite called, "Pearls of Wisdom", where she was going to share many of the shorter words and sentences of wisdom that Father has given her over the years. At this point today, she realized that as she was about to do this but was told to stop the teaching ministry and blog, the Father had already birthed the same idea in me, which I had already acted upon. So now, I will be transcribing these pearls she has spoken to me, along with the others He has shared with her that she had not yet posted on her own site, and sharing them out with the world as near or far as the Father will take them. Obviously, we were both very excited and grateful for this. This is a wonderful example of how He works out His plans -- just amazing! Furthermore, the Father knows the exact audience I have for my blog, so it is important that you know He wants you personally to have this wisdom too! So this update is to announce that I now have a new tab on the blogsite applicably called, "Pietra's Pearls". I will have many messages where the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that was birthed within her through her own trials and sufferings and complete death of self has lifted me up in times I felt I could not go on. I will have to scroll back about two years to get them all. I will be transcribing and posting these as the Father leads, and I am prayerful that they will be for you everything and even more that they were for me. With that, I already have the second pearl posted (again, the first one was embedded in my last blog post, "Death for Life"). As I mentioned above, today in the midst of my sharing from the continued brokenness of my heart, she shared something with me that I knew was a pearl of wisdom to share with you. Please click on "His Finished Masterpiece" to access a blessing of edification and encouragement! Final Note: As Pietra would say, and I say as well, this is no exultation of Pietra or any other man. She, just like all of us, is an empty vessel that Father has chosen to use as He desires. In this case, the living water from her vessel is being poured out to nourish us that we may ultimately do the same for others. All praise, honor, and glory belongs only to Almighty God, Yahuah, through His Son, Yahusha the Messiah!!
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The gate (G4439 – a gate, that is, the leaf or wing of a folding entrance) is straight (G4728 - narrow, from the base G2476 to stand, abide, bring, continue, covenant, establish, lay, present)
Narrow (G2346 – to crowd, afflict, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble; from the base of G5147 – to rub, a rut or worn track) is the way (G3598 – a road, a progress [the route, act, or distance]; figuratively a mode or means, journey, highway) After putting all that together, I believe it it would be safe to say it this way: “The entrance into eternal life is narrow and established in covenant – exclusivity and commitment unto oneness, and the journey thereto is progressive and includes suffering and tribulation.” We cannot enter into the ultimate reward of eternal life without our commitment in word and deed to covenant, and our covenant is based on faith in Yahusha as our sole redemption. He is the Mediator and High Priest of the New Covenant between us and Yahuah, to prepare and restore us to the eternal presence of Father God Almighty. Most of us already know and have experienced the suffering and great tribulation of the covenant journey/narrow path, and many of us feel it might not ever end. This is absolutely necessary, and there is no way around it. The Word is very clear about this. We have two choices: embrace it and wait for the glory to be revealed, or fight it with grumbling and complaining. I know which one we all want, but it is obvious that we cannot do it alone in the flesh. Praise our God and Father through His Son Yahusha the Messiah that they have promised to do it IN US! But there is more. There is another aspect of this “narrow path” that has been very prevalent in my life as well as many others, so much to the point there are times I feel I cannot take anymore. Did you notice that one of the meanings of the word “narrow” is “to crowd”? This is so, because the path is only meant for one person at a time – it is isolated, personal, and at times extremely and bitterly lonely. It is your own personalized journey, ordered and orchestrated by the One who knows you better than anyone… to the depths and crevices of your heart. He knows your base and foundation (your bones, your personality, your wiring, your essence), because He knit you together that way. He also knows your junk – all the childhood events that molded you (and for some these are even difficult to remember and process), the mistakes, the rebellion, the doubt, the wretched acts… and He knows why. He is so wonderful and loves us so deeply that each of us has our own path – a very narrow path, so narrow that it must be walked alone... with Him, that He is literally formed in us. It is a path tailored especially for each of us by the Master Planner and Savior. This is how creative the Holy Spirit is in the New Covenant. Because He promises to “cause us to walk in His ways” (Philippians 2:13 and Ezekiel 36:27), our path is specific to us. He knows our frame and what it will take to get us there; He will finish the work in His way, the perfect way for us. All the more reason that we should be humble and meek when looking at another person’s journey, especially when it doesn’t look quite like ours. For this reason, whoa to us when we judge wrongly! The entrance (gate) is by faith and covenant, and the journey (path) will be perilous and lonely. But as Yahusha told us over and over, He is with us until the end of the age. He will not leave us nor forsake us as we walk His path carrying our own cross till we get to the place of our death. And as we are crucified with Him, we remember that death by crucifixion involved torment and torture – a slow death that destroys the flesh and resurrects the spirit into perfection and eternal life. We die with Him and are raised up with Him, remembering these wonderful words of Paul: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18 I would like to share an excerpt from the 2nd book of Esdras in the Apocrypha that speaks of this narrow path. This impacted me the first time I read it many years ago and has always stayed with me. It is the perfect picture of our narrow path with even more insight into why Yahusha had to walk it and why we also must follow.
And he [an Angel which had been sent to him the nights before] said unto me, Up Esdras, and hear the words that I am come to tell thee. And I said, Speak on, my God. Then said he unto me, The sea is set in a wide place, that it might be deep and great. But put the case the entrance were narrow, and like a river; who then could go into the sea to look upon it and to rule it? If he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?
There is also another thing: a city is builded and set upon a broad field and is full of all good things: the entrance thereof is narrow and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water: and only one path between them both, even between the the fire and the water, so small that there could but one man go there at once. If this city now were given unto a man for an inheritance, if he never shall pass the danger set before it, how shall he receive this inheritance? And I said, It is so, Lord. Then said he unto me, Even so also is Israel’s portion. Because for their sakes I made the world: and when Adam transgressed my statutes, then was decreed that now is done. Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, full of sorrow and travail: they are but few and evil, full of perils, and very painful. For the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure and brought immortal fruit. If then they that live labour not to enter these strait and vain things, they can never receive those that are laid up for them. 2 Esdras 7:2-14 (KJV) Most of us already know that this narrow path is extremely painful at times, including times of great dryness and loneliness. We use the word “wilderness” to describe some of these longer stops on our path. Just as with Yahusha for 40 days, the wilderness is the place of our necessary testing, where some of us spend more time than others. This testing is all about preparation for our eternal destination, but it is also about preparation for our assignment. Because we live in the last days when there will be a great harvest of lost souls, many of us are also likely being prepared to be a worker in this harvest. What great preparation and endurance this will require as the world will be in the midst of the greatest tribulation of all time and where mercy, love, and endurance will be required of us at levels we have never known! Most of us right now in this moment are like Peter... not realizing just how not ready we are for this. The magnitude of this assignment is massive. The wilderness stops can be some of the most challenging places along our narrow path, and they often bring us to a place of doubt and fear of our preparation for the future and to stand before our King and Judge. Because many of us currently find ourselves in this place, I wanted to share a short "pearl of wisdom" that my sister from South Africa shared with me that gave me the assurance and peace I needed. It is called, "His Finished Masterpiece". (And there is a story behind the new tab on this website where this pearl of wisdom is located. If you would like to know more about it, click here for the applicable blog post (the story is quite amazing!). May the Most High God, Yahuah, bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you... and give you strength and peace that you may endure the narrow path to fulfill your calling and reach the eternal reward, Yahusha, our Beloved! Within the last month or so, I’ve had a realization or revelation that I was able to put into words. I’ve repeated this to those closest to me whose main goal in life is to seek the Father through His Son. It’s just been IN me. This is generally what I spoke: We serve a God who would crucify and kill His own creation in the midst of them being alive, while they are living and breathing -- to the end that He will ensure that they are there with Him, in all the beauty He has created for them, for all of eternity. That is a love that is incomprehensible. This is true of our God, the God of love – Yahuah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the only God who loves so much and so deeply and so purely that He will kill His own to do the work within them so they may be with Him forever. Does that even make sense in our human minds? We know this is true and is His very nature, because He has shown us in His Word through live examples of His dear ones like Job, Joseph, David, and Yahusha. Job in particular was a very righteous man according to the Word, but his suffering was more than our minds can even conceive possible. But what came from Job in all he experienced... a great seeing and knowing! I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Job 42:5 It’s true… we cannot fully see or know Yahuah through His Son Yahusha (Jesus) unless we suffer, unless we die. To know Him is to know that He is a God whose entire being is a consuming fire of holy light and love. He is One whose slightest glance and presence will annihilate sinful flesh on the spot – not because He is violent and condemning, but because His consuming light of love and holiness will automatically destroy anything that is opposed. He knows our frame and that we are but dust, only living and breathing because of His life within us; so to look upon us now is to kill us instantaneously. Although He knows this, yet He still does… kill us… because He must. To know Yahuah is to know that He will do what is necessary in us unto death. He does so slowly and in perfect order and timing and in a way that is gentle and long-suffering (although admittedly, there are times when it doesn’t feel very gentle). He shows us this path to death most perfectly through His Son, who was also killed. However, Yahusha took the ultimate path not required of man. Although being tempted in all things as we are and remaining fully pure and righteous, He was tortured mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and He was “forsaken” by the One with whom He was one. He not only bore His cross, but He bore our sin. He suffered to the point that the natural water that would come through His body as tears and sweat came forth as blood. His very life was in that shed blood even then, while He was still breathing. We are not required to suffer to the point of blood while we are still alive, because Yahusha took that impossible feat upon Himself. But we are required to suffer nonetheless. We are required to follow Him, carrying our cross/burden, and be willing to die to ourselves, being crucified with Him (as Paul says in Gal. 2:20). We must die/decrease that He may live/increase in us. He has told us this repeatedly in His word; it just really doesn’t sink in until we find ourselves craving more and more of Him at any cost, and then it comes. As I spoke forth the words I shared above, I knew it was revelation that came from the Spirit and I was compelled to use my mouth to speak it as truth. But now I see even more that the timing was perfectly ordered and ordained. As I was speaking it forth in a knowing of only limited understanding, the Father was prepared to quickly give me more understanding by experience. In His grace, He shows us through experience that we may comprehend and that we may submit. In all honesty, I have been feeling the death of myself for about eight years now. I’ve called it my wilderness, because it has been one of death, barrenness, and loneliness – although I have learned and gained much spiritual endurance from it. There have definitely been streams of living water that He has given me to keep me alive in this wilderness, so that I can endure unto completion. There is always mercy in our suffering, for His mercy endures in all things and forever. I keep hoping my time in the wasteland is almost over, but there is one thing I must remember. I am supposed to die there, but the fullness of this death has still not yet come. A few days ago, I had an “episode” that has become somewhat of a regular occurrence since I lost my family, my 20+-year best friend, and other “possessions” that were not as important but had a significance at one time. It is an agonizing emptiness of feeling like an unloved orphan, being isolated from anything or anyone familiar, and a loneliness that swallows me up and pierces the heart just like death. In all honesty, these moments can leave me wondering why I am still here and feeling that I have nothing to offer anyone, not even my sons. While I know this is not true, I can become so “dead” in the despair that it’s hard to see anything else. Sometimes these episodes are so painful that I feel I cannot comprehend them or contain them. They are not always to this extreme, but sometimes it does go there, and this last time was one of those. On the other hand, somehow in the midst through the grace of Yahusha the Messiah, I have grown in the Spirit enough that I am eventually able to rise up out of that pit and praise the Father and thank Him for every loss and for every tear and for every inch of the grueling pain – and truly mean it! Does it stop the pain? No it usually does not, but it makes it bearable. It is then I remember that it is for His grand, perfect purposes and not mine, and it is a means to know and trust Him more intimately and perfectly. I remember this and accept it, and it strengthens me. It is for an eternal, glorious purpose; therefore, it can be (if I will receive it) a “light affliction” on this side compared to the glory to come. If I can stop and see myself as what I really am in His eyes – both absolutely the dust of nothing AND the absolute joy of His heart – I can rest in His strength while He sees to it that I keep going. That is what I have been doing, and that is the only reason I have made it this far. This dry and lonely wilderness and these episodes of death are absolutely necessary to break off any dependence upon anything else. I know the strength it is producing in me, and I know the Christ it is forming in me. It is pure fellowship with Him where His presence is literally all there is. There is nothing else. And as I have been telling Him for months now… IT IS ENOUGH! The day after this pitiful experience (and yes, pun intended because it felt like a pit!), I spent some time conversing with my precious sister and mentor, Pietra, from South Africa. This is a woman whom Father has chosen to be by my side during these last three years to share with me the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom she has gained from her own wilderness and death. I am constantly amazed and grateful that the Father would assign her to me, because I see where she is now, and it shows me where I am going – and it is no light thing!! We are continually in touch and typically exchange either by text or voice over Telegram. This same day we were sharing by voice back and forth, and as usual, what she shared resonated and comforted me greatly. It me took me one step further to understanding my own situation and the magnitude of this death that simply must take place. One of the messages in particular was so profound and confirming to the things Father was already showing me that I knew I was to transcribe it and share it. Her words were in response to my episodes of agony of nothingness, loss, loneliness, feeling abandoned by all, and wondering why I am here (and this is of course not the first time she’s heard this from me). What she shared was authentic wisdom, birthed from real experience where she lived it, endured it, and was resurrected up out of it. These words were breathed out by the overcoming Spirit of Yahusha in her, who she has allowed to be her ALL. As I listened, I felt nourishment and comfort as the words were like soothing honey poured over my head, and although they were different words, they formed the same message He had already begun to speak to me. What my sister shared is precious words of depth that can likely only be understood and received by those who are also tasting of this death. If you find yourself not understanding this now, please don’t worry or disregard it. If you are pursuing our God with all your heart, soul, mind, body, and strength, you too will likely enter into this. Father will do as He desires, even if it is just to plant these words within your spirit that they may spring up at the appointed time. Below are the words as she spoke them directly to me. But remember, these words are not just for me, not even for a minute! Please also receive them as yours. “I have now reached that place where I have no expectation from anyone, to be fed by anyone or to receive anything from anyone. My expectation is only of Him. We learn to walk without this where we have no source but Him. When we are called to walk alone with Him, He will strip and strip and strip, even to silencing the voices around us. I was thinking of Helen Keller, who did so much for the Kingdom of God. What a provision her deafness and blindness was for her, because it required her to lean solely on her God. In all of her immense lack, she chose to grow in absolute dependence upon Him. In the midst of my own great loneliness, Father told me that this loneliness was a gift. Even though we can sit back and think about it and agree that it has taught us much, we still have those moments when it is very difficult to deal with this loneliness, even knowing that it is a gift. The Father said to me, “Possess nothing, desire nothing, and be nothing. Be willing to be the world’s nobody, my nobody, even if forever.” I had to count the cost, even though I had no idea. I had to think of what it means to possess nothing, desire nothing, and literally become nothing. What does this mean? Loneliness is part of this. As long as we have anything that we depend upon or desire, we are still going after it in some way. As long as we still desire to be with people and still want that communication and the pat on the shoulder and the comfort and encouragement, then we are still yearning after that and desiring that. Desiring these things is not a bad thing, right? It is a natural desire and is how the Father made us to be dependent on one another as the body ministers to one another. We are social beings. So how does one marry these two dispositions where the one is natural and the other is most certainly unnatural? Being nothing, desiring nothing, and having nothing is completely unnatural. And because it is unnatural, it is actually spiritual. Our whole being is like a magnet to the natural; however, it is unnatural for us to be spiritual, and the world will tell us this. It will say that it is unnatural to not have these things or not want them… the encouragement, togetherness, love, appreciation, significance – and it’s not necessarily wrong to say that. But the Father is calling us to walk after the Spirit and not after nature, or the flesh, no matter how logically it makes sense. There are few who are willing to walk in this way, because the cost is so ultimate. There are even less who understand it, because they have never proposed in their hearts to truly possess nothing, desire nothing, and be nothing. Subconsciously, we are counting the cost, and most people are not willing to pay that price. As I sit here today, I am aware of a shift that has actually taken place in me. The only way I can explain it to you is that I possess nothing, I desire nothing, and I am nothing. It’s like I merely exist. And I know it is only Him who brought me to this place. It is only Him who can take you where become nothing and there is nothing in you of a natural desire that needs the natural things. Yeshua said that man should not live from bread alone (the natural), but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. To live from His words is not just the ability to be sustained when He speaks to you, but actually the words ARE the life in you. And that life is not just eternal life, but resurrection life. You live by that life now. Many subscribe to this resurrection life but actually live outside of the reality of it. They desire to have this but have it not, because they never truly entered into the death that must precede it. It is the death to the natural. For us to die to lustful pleasures -- fornication, adultery, stealing, lying, etc. -- is elementary. To die to the very life in you that requires you to become nothing… very few do this. This place where He has brought me to become that very thing that you yourself are desiring – which is because you desire truth and authenticity – requires the same death that you are now experiencing. But it is for the purpose of bringing you into resurrection life now! Not future (that too), but NOW! That death has to be utter and complete. It is a journey as you know. When you go into those moments where you feel it is like a dark pit swallowing you up in such sadness and heartache, remember Psalm 139 – that all you members were before Him when you were formed in the depths of the earth – all your members, which is your whole being – your organs, your flesh, your mind, your heart – your members. All of that is before Him and written in His book as He now forms you in the pit, the grave. Just think of the magnitude of that mercy to bring you to this place, however painful, and that it is such a grace and such favor and mercy of God – to extend to you that kind of sanctification that is so complete. How can one ever put a price on this? And yet He asks of us to count the cost for that life. It is death, it is utter death, and it is complete in all your categories. In His mercy He extends flickers of that resurrection life, the more we die. The Word says that the path of the righteous is like the sun that reaches noonday, ever increasing this life in you as you die in darkness. This resurrection life starts increasing and increasing in you all the more until it shines as bright as the sun at noonday where there are no shadows . When the sun is at its highest, there are no shadows. There will be no shadow in you – no darkness – because His light, His word, His truth, His life has entered into you because you were willing to go into the depths of the darkness of the grave. Only He can bring you up from that place. I pray this encourages you to stay the course, to know that there will be a moment where the light breaks through, just like the darkest night has to give in to the first light of the morning. Maybe that is why you love the dawn so much, the first light, because you long so much for His light to shine in your darkness. He is the Son, the strong man, that comes like the sun and races on His course, and He will not leave you in darkness. He will not leave you in that place of utter despair. He knows how long you need to be there, and He knows your breaking point.”
1. Our crucifixion involves the very godly attributes of our fathers of Israel:
3. Our burning “flesh” is a sweet-smelling aroma to Yahuah. We can only receive the fullness of the fire of Yahuah when we are willing to become the sacrifice.
As I pondered more about this suffering, I was lead to go back and look at my blog posts around the time that my dad passed away (he was the last of my family members to pass). I was lead to a particular post where I was able to write the words of the Spirit from a place of my own intense suffering. Only the Spirit can enlighten us to the sweetness of bitter and sometimes agonizing pain that we face in this life. I think this post is a perfect compliment to this current post. If you are in a place of suffering and need encouragement, please consider reading "The Sweetness of Suffering". I have transparently shared some things here regarding my own struggles and heart condition, and that can be a bit unsettling sometimes. However, His glorious ways are worth proclaiming, even if we expose ourselves! And also very importantly, YOU are worth it. It is just as Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4 (and in several other places as well), that all the difficult trials and challenges he and the others were enduring was for their sake, that the grace of Yahusha would reach to more and more people and increase thanksgiving to the glory of our God, Yahuah! I pray that this sharing edifies and encourages you in the way you need at this very moment! All praise, glory, and honor goes to our God and Father, Yahuah, through His beautiful Son, Yahusha the Messiah! |
Special NoteThese writings are written in love and a spirit of servitude. They are not designed to judge but make us think. We are all sinners in need of saving, and we all need encouragement and absolute truth to endure on the narrow road to sanctification and ultimately eternal life. Categories
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