Torah Trails
Rabbi Yehudah “Tochukwu” ben Shomeyr
Kristopher Shoemaker
#3 Lekh L’kha
Gen. 12:1-17:27
Isa. 40:20-41:6
Rom.
3:19-5:6
Memory
Verses: Gen. 12:1-3, Isa. 41:16, Romans 4:24-25
Gen. 12:1-3
Abraham was
backwards from most of us. He seemingly had no fear of leaping into the unknown
and unimaginable, but feared what he could see and imagine. That was his problem;
he let his imagination run away with him. He had no qualms walking away from
country and kin into the middle of literally “only God knows where” and drive
his stakes down when God said, “Drive’em in Abe!” Yet he trembled at the
thought, the possibility that people might kill him to get to his wife (Gen.
12:10-20). This was his Achilles heel, his weak spot, his button that the evil
one know how and when to push. He had am issue with fear and passed it on to
his son Isaac via a familiar generational spirit, for Isaac did the exact same
thing his father did; lie for fear he would be killed because of his wife (Gen.
26:1-11). God had to tell Abraham not to fear (15:1) as well as Isaac (26:24).
Make no mistake, fear is not just an emotion, it is a spirit!
For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind. II Tim. 1:7
Fear is a
spirit that whispers in your ear in the first person making fear seem to be
your own rational thoughts. You don’t need exposure therapy to conquer your
fear, you don’t even need to face your fear necessarily. It’s a spirit, subject
to Messiah Yeshua and can be rebuked and cast out once repentance has been made
for giving into such a spirit (II Cor. 10:4-5).
In the
Haftarah Portion Isaiah proclaims the All Powerful might of our God and in
Messiah Yeshua we have access to that power! Fear has no chance to stand
against it!
Romans speaks
of faith. Faith and fear are the 2 sides of the same coin. Both making
declarations and both demanding fulfillment and both requiring belief to cause
and allow them to come to pass. Bottom line is that the choice is ours, whether
we choose Fear or Faith. Choose Faith.
Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11:1
“Abba YHWH
Elohim, Expose any and every part of our lives where fear maybe trying to infiltrate,
influence and hi-jack our being, so that we may repent, recognize, renounce, rebuke
and cast out into the dry place, the spirit of fear, so we can be free and
therefore give glory and honor to you. In Yeshua’s Name, Amen!”
