Asah Shamah

Have you ever thought to yourself that if God would just reveal Himself more to me, then I would obey Him and follow Him better? 

Many of us tend to think that way because we were educated and brought up with the Greco-Roman philosophical mindset. 

The Greco-Roman Educational Mindset:

In the Greco educational mindset, the dynamic sort of looks like this:

First, convince someone emotionally that some concept or practice is good for them. Help them feel good about it.

Second, convince their rational and logical mind until they are satisfied that something is good for them.

Third, convince them to try what you are saying after they are persuaded from its logic, and hopefully they will like it and continue to do it.

Many American preachers are trained to present the gospel using this Greco-Roman educational paradigm; and we often find that getting people to actually put biblical principles into practice in their own lives, seems a lot like pulling teeth, without Novocain.

Quite honestly, I used to think and minister in the exact same way years ago, until the Heavenly Father revealed to me a HUGE Kingdom Principle.

The Hebraic Mindset:

In the Hebraic educational mindset, the REVERSE is true:

As it is written:

The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”” (John 14:21, HCSB)

Did you notice that obeying comes BEFORE Revelation; BEFORE Understanding?

The Hebraic paradigm usually works more like this:

FIRST, you CHOOSE to hear and to believe God's Instruction

SECOND, you CHOOSE to DO and to ACT on the Instructions.

THIRD, as you are PRACTICING and OBEYING, THEN you gain understanding, and it makes more sense to your rational mind.

FOURTH, you then see and experience the blessing for yourself, and it makes a lot more sense, (and you will often wonder why you didn't do this a long time ago, because you've been missing out on the blessing all along).

In Hebraic thought, rational understanding and emotional comfort are still valuable aspects of the human psyche, but they are NOT the ENGINE of our life choices. They are intended to be the caboose, not the driving force.

"In DOING you will come to KNOW and UNDERSTAND." In Hebrew, this is known as " Asah Shamah."

In reality, we  will NEVER understand a Biblical principle until you practice it first. In a Way, that makes perfect sense; because righteousness is established by FAITH, (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11, Romans 14:23b; Hebrews 11:1,6,ff.); and faith is hearing believing and doing what God said to do, BEFORE you see the benefit or the blessed result.

So, biblically it makes perfect sense that both YHWH and the Messiah would say, "Hear and choose to obey My Instructions FIRST, and THEN I will reveal Myself to you and you will then gain understanding.

Understanding is NOT what produces obedience. Obedience comes first, and obedience THEN produces the understanding.

As human beings we tend to think that IF God would just reveal Himself more clearly, then we would obey HIM better, but God's looking down towards us saying, IF you would just obey Me more, then I would go ahead and reveal Myself to you, and THEN you would understand.

• A person will never understand how valuable, and what a blessing prayer is, until they start praying, and until they start experiencing the blessings of answered prayer for themselves.

• A person can never see the true value and the true blessing of Bible reading, until they themselves make Bible reading a habit.

• The person who does not practice tithing and giving the first portions of their increase to YHWH will never understand the blessings of tithing until they start practicing it for themselves.

• Only the person who starts the habit of keeping the seventh day biblical Sabbath will truly have a revelation understanding of what a blessing honoring YHWH's biblical Sabbath truly is. For example, I'm a 25 year veteran of ministry, and a passionate Bible student, and I was thoroughly  AMAZED at how much more clearly I could perceive and understand truths from Scripture after I started keeping the biblical Sabbath. Even "New Testament" passages I had read for years became more clear and easier to understand. 

• A person will not understand the true value or the blessing of keeping ANY Biblical Commandment, until AFTER they have started keeping that particular Commandment. Why? Because the Almighty Creator ONLY reveals Himself, and makes Himself more understood AFTER we start obeying Him, He does NOT reveal Himself first, and then say, okay, I have now made myself completely understood, now obey Me.

If you REALLY want to know God and Messiah better, then pick a Commandment from His Word, (even start with  a New Testament Commandment if you want); one that you know you should be keeping better. Start taking deliberate steps in DOING that Instruction, and you will see for yourself how much revelation and understanding you will gain. Because, it is ONLY in DOING the Word that He reveals Himself (John 14:21; Hebrews 5:12-14), and it is FAILING to DO the Word which leads to deception and clouded judgment, (James 1:21-25). 

Only those who are DOERS of His Word, can truly say that they have any knowledge or understanding of HIM.

Brother Michel Lankford

As it is written:

This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:3–6, HCSB)