Learning of the Father’s Love for Us
by Batya Wootten
https://redeemedisrael.com/feast-locations/
The thematic evening teachings were based on the ideas of both healing and deliverance.
Our friend, Sid Roth, one of the early Jewish Jesus Freaks would often invite Angus and I to Charismatic meetings. There, people would be praying in tongues, weeping, laughing, dancing, and some would cry out as they experienced deliverance from evil spirits. The experience turned me into an instant prayer warrior. My prayer went something like this:
“Dear Lord, if you let me get out of this place and not get any of this stuff on me, I promise that I will serve you for the rest of my life!”
I must say that I was conflicted with my rather spontaneous prayer because, for quite some time earlier, I had read the Gospels every night before going to bed. There I found that the Messiah healed people and often cast demons out of them. Moreover, I fell in love with the Man from Galilee. Him, I loved, but sadly, the religions of man got in the way of that relationship for a time.
Returning to the idea of my resistance to some things I was seeing, let me say that after some serious coaxing and prayer by Sid and others, I finally said “I do” to my Lord and my King. He came into my heart in a most powerful and personal way and began to change me. It is truly a life-time process. To this very day, He is still working to transform me.
Having accepted Jesus as my Messiah, I began to feel that the deliverance sessions I had seen did not resemble what I read in Scripture, so I put the idea of deliverance on a shelf and became seriously involved with the Jewish Believers I knew. Before long, they became known as “Messianic Jews.”
Years passed and Angus and I moved on and began teaching about “Messianic Israel,” about Ephraim and Judah and the restoration of both the houses of Israel (Isaiah 8:14; Ezekiel 37:15-28). Later, we became aware of Henry Wright’s “Be in Health” ministry. When it came to deliverance, in my opinion, what I saw at his meetings better resembled the actions of Messiah Yeshua. It was not loud and crazy, but controlled and mostly quiet, and results seemed to be quite evident.
Coming to our present time, when P.J. Jones told me that they wanted to present teachings about healing and deliverance at their recent evening Tabernacles sessions, I thought it was a great idea. Then, his wife, Christi, asked me to teach on “The Spirit of Rejection.” That did not seem to be such a great idea. I did not feel qualified to teach on the subject. But, Christi persisted and said to me, “Who knows more about rejection than you?”
I had to admit that she had me there.
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Considering my situation and Christi’s comment, I reluctantly agreed to teach one of the sessions. And now, I would like to share with you some of the things I learned about rejection:
The Spirit of Rejection
In Hebrew, the word for rejection is maw-as’. It is a verb, an action word meaning to dismiss as inferior based on comparison, to cast away, to overlook.
To be rejected is to fail to measure up to a certain standard.
We all fear rejection.
Most of us have suffered it at some time in our lives.
It can be suffered in many different ways.
The opposite of rejection is acceptance.
We all seek, even long for acceptance.
The Hebrew word for acceptance is seh-ayth’ (H7613). It is a noun meaning exaltation, dignity, raising up.
The first time this word is used is in Genesis 4:7. There we read of Cain and Abel:
“Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; its desires is for you, and you must master it'” (Genesis 4:2-7).
Scripture reveals that doing right will lead to acceptance.
Not doing what is right reveals that sin is crouching at our door, seeking to devour us, and that we must master it.
We must master sin if we want to be accepted.
Sin is missing the mark, not hitting the bulls eye in a target.
With this idea in mind, we can see how one might think that acceptance is based on “works,” on “doing it right.” So let us now examine what it is that we actually need to do.
The Father said of those of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, meaning Ephraim, or the Ten Tribes who were scattered among every nation (Hosea 1-2):
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten/rejected the law of your God, I also will forget/reject your children” (Hosea 4:6).
Rejection is tied to us missing the mark in regard to knowledge of our Father’s Law. The problem is, mistaken ideas of what this means also can lead us to a works based faith.
We need to realize the following: “Faith without works is dead,” and, “By grace we have been saved through faith. This is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (James 2:18; Acts 15:11; Ephesians 2:1-10).
To be acceptable to our God, we must walk in a balance of faith and works, so we need to ask, how can we best do that?
To simplify our search, we will first deal with the Father’s primary Law. Our assumption will be that, if we cannot keep His first and foremost Law, we will have failed the test, missed the mark. That Law is, “I am the Lord thy God and you shall have no other gods before Me” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7).
We define other “gods” as something /someone that rules over or has power over us. Our God is supposed to live in our heart and rule over us. So, we will define a foreign god as something that, in place of our God and His teachings, it rules over, or governs our heart, it is something that is in opposition to God and it determines what we think.
With this idea in mind, we will soon see that entertaining a spirit of rejection is idolatry. To entertain it is to entertain “another god”, another “mighty one”.
Again, the Father’s foremost commandment is: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7). If we want to be brought out of slavery, YHVH alone must be our God. That means, we must look to Him alone for approval and acceptance. If we instead mistakenly look to man for approval instead of God, that becomes idolatry.
So, looking to, fearing or revering the opinions of men above the opinions of our God is idolatry. Looking to men for approval makes them our “god.” We give them the power to decide if we are or are not acceptable, which is a decision that belongs to God alone.
Being deceived, and not believing that we are acceptable to God often leads to other sins, such as seeking a different identity – because the one we have is supposedly not good enough. It can lead to fabrication of truth – to lies – all because we do not feel accepted. It can lead to looking for love in all the wrong places. The list is long, possibly endless…
We can only have one God in our heart and it is said of Him:
* “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
* “When you ask of Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6, NLT).
* “This is His commandment: We must believe in the name of His Son, Messiah Yeshua, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23).
We must believe our Heavenly Father when He says, “‘Behold, I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for building up and not for tearing down, plans for good and not for disaster, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans that will give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
If we will believe that, we will “do well.”
The Father formed our inward parts and wove us together in our mother’s womb. He tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made – that all of our days were ordained, written down in His book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).
It is also written of Him and the Messiah Whom He sent to redeem us: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
To fully grasp the meaning of this verse, let us close our eyes and imagine ourselves in the midst of the worst sin we ever committed. Now imagine Messiah Yeshua hanging on the cross over your head, in the process of dying especially for you.
While we were IN OUR SINS, Messiah died for us! How much more does He love us now that we are trying to follow Him?!
Our Father loves us, and again, we must not look to men when, contrary to the dictates of Scripture, they withhold approval of us. (We cannot expect the righteous to accept sins, but neither should they seek to control others by withholding acceptance of another child of the King.)
It is not wise to look to men for approval because, “ALL have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It is further written of man, “Let God be true, and every human being a liar” (Romans 3:4).
Man will fail us. Every man. Us included. Each one of us will fail others, because we all fall short of our Father’s glory.
However, there is One in Whom we can always trust…
Proverbs 18:24 speaks of “One who sticks closer than a brother.” Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” In Hebrews 13:5 we read, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. …I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.'”
Our God is the only One who sticks closer than a brother.
If we feel unloved, abandoned, or rejected, it is because we are looking to mortal men for approval. Moreover, when we accept a spirit of rejection, we will strive to please those who reject us: we will want to get it right, and thus be acceptable to men.
People who feel rejected often feel driven to succeed. They are not being gently drawn by the Almighty, but driven by the dictates of men.
Like Cain, our feeling of being rejected can lead to anger – because we don’t feel we should be rejected. Outbursts of anger often travel with the spirit of being downcast, or depressed. This anger can be expressed in self-hatred, or in hatred of others. People who entertain a spirit of rejection sometimes entertain hurtful/murderous thoughts toward themselves and/or others. Let us understand that we can “murder” with our tongue, we can use slander or gossip to tear others down – so we won’t feel so alone and dejected.
The spirit of rejection can cloud our thinking and cause us to misjudge others, and thus, to withdraw from people. It can lead us to reject others because we feel they have rejected, or possibly will reject us. Restated, we use rejection as a defense mechanism: If we reject them first, they won’t have an opportunity to reject us!
All of these sins and more can influence us because we don’t feel accepted. If we do feel that way (assuming we are not in blatant sin for which we need to repent) we are surely looking to men. We are making idols of them, we are allowing them to rule over us. We are not believing the comforting words of our Father. And that is idolatry. That is what it means to “have another god before Him.” It means we are believing the lies of the evil one rather than believing the loving declarations the Father has made about us.
So, the next time you feel rejected, alienated, or alone, ask yourself, whose report am I believing? Is it one from mortal men who fail, or am I believing the report of my Heavenly Father – Who has sworn that He will never leave me nor forsake me?
Let us learn to overcome this sin that has surely knocked, or is presently knocking, at all of our doors. Let us be forever delivered from the slavery and bondage of the spirit if of rejection. Let us learn to believe our Heavenly Father when He tells of the unfailing love that He has for us!
Amen! So be it!!
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A Door of Hope for the Last Days
A Book Review
It seems you’ve written this book with such heart that it seems it may be your last book you ever write! Goodness, I hope not! You have such a way of writing that leaves little room for doubt.
I love how you swiftly got rid of the “rapture theory”…! People need to know with no quibbling that we WILL go through the tribulation period! Yet, in all of your chapters of reference to that you steer our fear from that of fright to faith in Yahshua to see us through! And you leave little room for us to ponder because you answer each plight of doubt with answers for us to always find Eloheim as our hope!
I’m amazed at how you shown Israel in pictures to those who are new in the knowledge of the TWO! Beautifully done! I particularity like: A Door and 10 Virgins in how you detail how we should be ready for our Beloved!
I suppose I could say much about each chapter you’ve written but it’s enough to say…You’ve said it all! The ending chapter is genius in allowing each of us to answer how “our” lives should be lived out or to state what we most want to say from what you wrote!
Batya, I have not the gift of writingas you do but I’m thrilled that our God has given it to you who has so professionally given to us the benefit of Elohim’s rich revelations in all your books that you and Angus have written to bring Him Glory!
I’ve finished your book for some time and am sorry for not responding sooner. Sufficient to say it IS the best of all you’ve done! But please, don’t stop! I know Father has more for you to do! We can all tell you that!
I already told one of A Door of Hope for the Last Days and the title kind of seeped her curiosity into reading it! So, fair to say my friend, you’ve really outdone yourself this time and I LOVE IT!
Thanks Batya.
In Yahshua,
Betty L.
Order Today!
A Door of Hope for the Last Days
by Batya Ruth Wootten Foreword by Angus Wootten
Paper, 288 pages, $15.95 plus shipping
ISBN 978-1-886987-33-3
https://redeemedisrael.com/products/a-door-of-hope-for-the-last-days/