Servias Ministries Blog

Exodus 20:13 ​​“You shall not murder.”

Our Heavenly Father brings forth life, HE is the Creator of all life.  To take a life is to potentially an attempt to override HIS will.  In the end, HE has the power over life and death, justice and mercy.  Justice is provided to us to deal with any problem or inequity that arises among people.  Justice will first rectify the issue at hand.  It will  make right the “wronged”.  Secondly, justice will balance out the inequity by exchanging something equivalent to the infraction.  This is the essence of restitution by the guilty.  Our Heavenly Father provides a framework by which we can determine an appropriate restitution by the guilty party.  Bloodthirsty men always want a greater payment for lawlessness than what is provided for in the Law of Our Heavenly Father.  This creates unequal weights and measures.  Bloodthirsty men think that if 40 stripes is good, 60 stripes is even better.  Their attack on life provokes a judgment as well.  You can see how any attack on life spirals men down the path of death and destruction.  Who has the right to execute death over another?  Who has the right to exalt himself above Our Heavenly Father?

On the other hand as you promote life you will participate in prosperity and increase.  Instead of conflict, you promote peace.  Instead of being oriented to scarcity, you empower abundance.  Instead of destruction, life is expanded.  Division promotes scarcity; reconciliation and restoration promote life.  Scarcity-oriented people look at prosperity of other people with envy because they think they will be denied or deprived.  They think those limited resources could have been theirs and now there is not enough to go around.  On the other hand, those who understand the fundamental Kingdom principle that Jesus revealed, the Law of multiplication, will rejoice at others’ prosperity knowing that it is also available and accessible to them as well.  They will support life.

How often do we kill a dream, talent, purpose, direction, etc. of another person?  Are we “murdering” life by our “stinkin’ thinkin’”?  Our bloodthirsty attitude is what kills the aspirations of another.  How much of the population is drawn to mass fatalities?  News channels thrive on this bloodthirsty attitude.  What would happen if this murderous attitude was gone?

Fear of invasion of personal interests causes men to attack others.  This fear is based on the scarcity doctrine of limited opportunity.  Fear hinders expansion and promotes death to anyone or anything that would encroach on the current system of scarcity.  Countries start wars over perceived limited resources.  Instead, they could redirect their financial resources to develop alternatives.  They don’t trust Our Heavenly Father’s provision for mankind.  Killing off the enemy satisfies their agenda of scarcity.  Separation of the two parties often resolves differences.  In Scripture when one party has expanded beyond the perceived resource, distance was placed between the two parties.  Wiping out the other party was not the solution.

Our Heavenly Father emphasizes the sanctity of life.  So should we.

Exodus 20:5  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”

As each year passes I gain a greater appreciation for what my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. went through to get us to this point in history.  Each generation should build on what the previous generation elevates us to.  To deny previous generations’ successes and failures is to assure yourself of making the same mistakes they did.  From the standpoint that GOD is Love, our parents were selected to bring us forth into this world at the precise location and time of our birth.  We were not a mistake, accident, or an unexpected arrival in the universe.  Our gifts and calling were and are part of the mosaic Our Heavenly Father has created for this universe.  The only issue we have is obtaining the revelation of what, when, where, why, and how to complete our calling.

We should appreciate everyone who has come before us.  In the biggest of pictures, they have been necessary in the progression of Our Heavenly Father’s Plan.  Each calling and set of gifts were needed as part of the overall process to take us through to the next level of manifestation.  When you reject their contribution, even if it appears to be one of dishonor, you compromise the fullness of Our Heavenly Father’s Plan in your own life.  We should embrace our past, understand from it, and then move forward to a higher level of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill.

Our food and water today is generally of higher quality and standards than what was available 100 years ago.  The struggles that previous generations endured have allowed us to reap the rewards of progress.  Love has been the motivator of true progress in the procession of life.  We should acknowledge and appreciate what those before us have contributed.  There are those things of the past that need corrected but without the past you would have nothing to rectify.  Those enduring qualities should provide a foundation on which to build.  Failure to build on the qualities will only insure that you will repeat the mistakes they made and thus reinvent the wheel again.

Living and working together creates a synergy greater than the sum of the parts.  Embracing past generations and studying their history will minimize your unproductiveness.  You will gain perspective on not only what to do, but what not to do.  Hindsight is 20-20 and so we should not be critical of the mistakes our parents or others made in history.  Our Heavenly Father did not put them on earth by mistake either.  If you deny your parents, you have promoted division in your life.  This division is by nature a path of exhaustion, death, and destruction.  By forgiving your parents of any wrongdoing, you promote unity and as a result you are promoting long life and the abundance and blessing of Love.

Exodus 20:

8  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10  but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

11  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”   NKJV

The Sabbath is the day of Grace where all rest.  There are many facets to these Commandments and I prefer to view them from a standpoint of Love.  Man’s soul and body needs rest to maintain harmony.  People become emotionally drained when they don’t have the opportunity to rest from their work.  Rest provides the soul and the body an opportunity to recover, rebuild, restore, and be nourished after six days of work.  In HIS Wisdom, Our Heavenly Father created six days and then rested from HIS work.  Each week we should contemplate all the HE did and also look forward to that millennium of rest.  No matter what your station in life, you should be given equal opportunity to rest.  HE dedicated, consecrated, that day to be kept as a Holy day.

Is it Saturday or Sunday?  It really doesn’t matter as long enough people are in unity in the observance.  The restaurant chain Chick-fil-a observes the Sabbath and they continue to be profitable.  The Hobby Lobby chain does the same.  The owner is listed among the wealthiest in the country.  The point is that we need to rest and honor Our Heavenly Father in a focused manner weekly.  Our focus should be undivided, away from the workplace.  This Commandment is another example of the restoration and unity theme in Scripture.

This day restores us to wholeness.  As we contemplate our relationship with Our Heavenly Father, we exalt HIS Love for us and this brings forth peace and joy.  As we rest from our labors, we are revitalized.  We need this interval of rest to keep this awareness.  By respecting this day of rest, you demonstrate your reverence to Our Heavenly Father for it is HIM who brings forth blessings to your life.  Why not honor HIM each week by respecting the Sabbath!

The current economic system has slowly compromised this day of rest by forcing workers to lose their opportunity to celebrate their relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  They fail to understand what the above two companies realized: they are just as profitable being open six days as they would be if they were open all seven.  Greed as perpetuated the lawlessness by breaking this Sacred Commandment.  When you fail to acknowledge and celebrate your relationship with Our Heavenly Father, you become lukewarm.  There will be repercussions.  After all, Our Heavenly Father give us the power to get wealth.  HE can do it in six days instead of seven.

Exodus 20:7 ​​“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.  NKJV

The word “vain” means:

1) emptiness, vanity, falsehood

a) emptiness, nothingness, vanity

b) emptiness of speech, lying

c) worthlessness (of conduct)

GOD is Love thus Love is the name of GOD.  This Love in action is the basis of life.  To degrade the very foundation of all existence is a dishonor to Our Heavenly Father.  When you take HIS Name in vain, you misrepresent the source of all life to yourself and anyone who hears the impact of your own vanity.  Your own unbelief becomes reinforced and you move further away from the power of life.  The path of vanity leads to death and destruction.  You promote dishonesty and become a victim to dishonest people.  Your dishonesty migrates to your intent which becomes action.  Your ego then justifies your dishonesty by lying, cheating and stealing from others.  You will by guilty of sin and lawlessness and your victims will demand restitution.  Your vain attempts to maneuver out of these situations will only move you deeper into judgment.  Your acts of unrighteousness act as a garment covering you with unacceptable “wedding” attire.  You become a vessel of dishonor (Romans 9:21) and are removed from the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:11).

As you walk in reverence to the name of the LORD your God, you strengthen and embrace your connection to the Source of Life- Our Heavenly Father.  The flow of life will support your progress rather than block your attempts to succeed in your endeavors.

My good friend Joe sent this 15 minute video link that shows the power of Love:

http://www.ted.com/talks/israel_and_iran_a_love_story.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2013-01-04&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

You might want to watch it before our Bible study today at 3PM.

Exodus 20:4  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  NKJV

This Commandment deals with man’s tendency towards a counterfeit reality.  Man’s ego wants to think that one can comprehend the fullness of Our Heavenly Father and put HIM inside a box.  If the ego can limit Our Heavenly Father in any way then man thinks he can control the outcome.  In a few short days after having been given the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel had already seen fit to break this Commandment:

Exodus 32: 1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Here we have an interesting picture in the progression of Exodus:

In Exodus 20:  Moses is given the Ten Commandments and all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking.

In Exodus 21-22: Various Laws are given.

In Exodus 23:  The three annual feasts are established.  The Angel Peniel was given the assignment to lead them to the Promised Land (but in Exodus 33:2-4 Peniel was replaced by Michael).

In Exodus 24:  The seventy elders had partially ascended up the mountain and had seen the majesty of Our Heavenly Father. “10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.”

In Exodus 25-28:  The instructions concerning the Tabernacle and its contents were given.

In Exodus 29:   Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the ministry of the priesthood.

In Exodus 30:   Instructions concerning the Altar of Incense, the ransom money, the Bronze Laver, the Holy Anointing Oil, and the Incense were given.

In Exodus 31:  Artisans were selected to build the Temple and its contents.  The Sabbath Law was given.

Now, the 2nd Commandment was broken in Exodus 32.  That didn’t take long.  People have a need to place their trust in someone or something.  Deep down, they know that there is a greater power than what they possess.  Our Heavenly Father made it quite clear that there are no other gods and that HE is the Almighty.  Our ego wants to exalt itself above Our Heavenly Father just as the devil wants to exalt himself above Our Heavenly Father.  The moment you create a counterfeit god, you create division between yourself and Our Heavenly Father.  Your power and authority are lost and death and destruction take over.

Creating a god is man’s attempt to define the undefinable.  Our Heavenly Father IS the Creator and HE defined all.  HE is Divine and any attempt to assign divinity to the created is the ultimate deception.  To serve anything, whether a carved image, a doctrine, a concept, a substance, is a move away from reality.  When you assign power to false authority, you will become depleted of Love and ultimately your fruit or lack thereof will be the result.  The 2nd Commandment was given to alert us of the potential of serving a counterfeit reality.