VdD7
Core Values

Love

We all have such different definitions of love these days, but what does the love of the Father look like, and how are we as children of YHWH expected to express that love?

This Is What The Perfect love of Adonai Looks Like

1 John 4:9-11
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

This Is How We Are Commanded To Express It

Matthew 5:43-45
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

This Is Yeshua Showing Us How It Is Done

Luke 23:33-34
When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.

Does this seem radical to you? It is in the eyes of the world, but it is normal in the kingdom.

Joy

It is one thing to have joy when things are going well, but it is another thing altogether to have joy when times are tough. Is it possible to be joyful even when things are hard? Yes! Especially when times are hard we can rejoice in our faith and Adonai’s unconditional love. As we spend time in His presence, no matter the circumstances, we are overcome with joy. “Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place” (1 Chronicles 16:27). What’s more, the attitude of a believer when things are difficult is of the utmost importance. James 1:3 puts it best, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Count it all joy!

Shalom/Peace

What is peace to you? Is it quiet time away from your children, from school, from work, no war, an agreement, a deal negotiated? So many unique definitions. For the world peace is the absence of something, for Adonai it is the fulness of something. Adam and Eve lived in Shalom in the Garden of Eden with an intimate relationship with Elohim, but that was taken away when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now our only way to true Peace (Shalom) is through the Prince of Peace, Yeshua, the only way to the Father.

Just like perfect love, Peace/Shalom came to the world, not from it. Accompanying the gift of the Spirit is the risen Yeshua’s gift of peace (John 20:19, 21, 26), a gift that drives out all fear.

Patience

Is Patience seeing how long you can listen to someone talk that you don’t like without yelling at them? Is it the ability to sit through a boring class and not fall asleep? Or is it your ability to wait in traffic without yelling at the terrible drivers around you?

Patience is not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).  

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying can add one hour to [the length of] his life?” (Matthew 6:27).

Patience knows Abba Father has our backs all the way, so we wait expectantly, in prayer and in His presence.

Kindness

Kindness tends to be something we say off handedly, a simple word without a seeming explosion of depth, but that is not what the Bible tells us.

Kindness can be summed up with Luke 6:31, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” Simple right? But follow it up with verse 33 that says, “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

Kindness and love go hand in hand, and it is doing something for someone not expecting anything in return, no angle, no audience, a totally selfless act, even and especially for our enemies as it confounds the darkness trying to keep them from their destiny.

Goodness

Once again, such a blah word right? We use it without even thinking! How are you? Good. How was your day? Good. Just wait for the real Good, and you might think twice before using it so nonchalantly.

What is the difference between goodness and kindness? While kindness is something we do, goodness is our state of being when no one is looking. “Do not be overcome and conquered by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). Unlike kindness, this is a personal battle where through Yeshua and the Holy Spirit we have the help of Almighty God Himself to overcome. GOOD IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF EVIL.

So are you good, the total antithesis of evil? In these end times we are experiencing what has been spoken of throughout Scripture. Isaiah tells us “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

Finally, we are sinful by nature after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL, and only by the grace of Adonai through the blood of Yeshua are our sins forgiven and the goodness of YHWH enters, and we are reborn a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Faithfulness

What does faithfulness look like in a believer in Yeshua? Is it different than the world’s definition? If I am faithful to my husband or wife people generally take that to mean I don’t cheat on them. If I am a faithful employee or a faithful customer I come to work on time and buy at the same store regularly. As with all things in Adonai, it goes much deeper, as from Him comes all of these things, and He is the absolute embodiment of their perfect definition.

The faithfulness of a believer is perplexing to the world. Let me prove it to you. “The Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) took his advice; and after summoning the apostles, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Yeshua, and released them. So they left the Council, REJOICING that they had been considered worthy [dignified by indignity] to suffer shame for [the sake of] His name.  And every single day, in the temple [area] and in homes, they did not stop teaching and telling the good news of Yeshua as the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed). (Acts 5:40-42).

If you read the whole chapter you’ll see what Adonai is calling us to today! Hallelujah! In the account of Peter’s eventual crucifixion by the Romans, it is noted that he told them he could not accept the honor of being crucified like Yeshua, so they flipped the cross upside down. Faithfulness.

Gentleness/Meerkness

Gentleness, also described more correctly as Meekness means the disposition to endure injury with patience and without resentment. The world would define this as weakness, so how many of us as believers live up to the definition of this fruit of the Spirit?

When is the last time someone stole from you and you didn’t resent them for it, forgave them, and prayed for Abba’s perfect will to be done in their life? This requires a humility in Yeshua that has but one goal in mind for those who would harm us, salvation. Pride is the greatest threat to forgiveness and ruins lives, breaks up relationships, friendships and families all over the world. Meanwhile meekness and humility bring us together. When we realize the greatest power is love and forgiveness, meekness leads the way.

Oh and by the way, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

Self-control

If the 9 fruits of the Spirit were a tree, love would be the roots and self-control the trunk. We have been born again as a new creation, but even so, some of the habits of the past try to keep us in bondage so that we do not live according to the Spirit. “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control” (Proverbs 25:28). The fallen kingdom of darkness is always looking for weaknesses in our walls and at our gates, but with self control and prayer, nothing is impossible to overcome.

Have you ever felt like there are just some things that God doesn’t like that you simply can’t stop doing no matter what you try? Here’s some good news, a promise of Adonai actually. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You thinking it is impossible is a lie of the devil. YHWH knows our limits, but sometimes we stop short of true effort and giving the problem to Him to help us with. You are a heavily fortified city, and the enemy will never breach your walls when you have self-control.