I can remember back when I was brand new to the faith, and the Word of Yahweh. I could not put it down, and my mind became a sponge for all of the knowledge found inside. Every day I would open the Good Book and I would meditate on every little piece of truth I was given. It felt as if the Book itself was speaking directly to me. One of the many truths that stuck with me was this parable:

'Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:1-5.

So let us begin on this wonderful and rewarding journey to pleasing our Heavenly Father, and following Yahshua into complete obedience! The road is long, but the Shepherd is trustworthy. If we follow Him we will reach our destination guaranteed! What is the first thing we must do in order to please Yahweh? Here is a clue: Psalm 25:9, 'He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.' What does humble mean exactly? According to my pocket Merriam-Webster's Dictionary; it means: not proud or haughty. In simpler terms: not thinking you know it all or best of all.

Now that we have that out of the way, it is safe to say that as long as we can keep this attitude, Yahweh can mold us into His perfect child, and we can become workers approved. It is so comforting to know that we have Yahshua to guide us in all things, so that we can be sure that as long as we follow His example we will not fail. HalleluYah for that! Now what are the main things we must make sure that we possess? If you thought 'fruit of the Spirit' you are right! 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such there is no law,' Galatians 5:22-23.

How simple and clear these instructions are, and how seemingly easy they seem to accomplish. I, for one, learned that, while some are easy, like love, joy, and kindness, there are others that are easily sabotaged by the enemy. For me, it is patience, but praise to Yahweh, He has given me ample opportunity to work on this in my life. Every situation that calls for patience is thrown my way so that I may practice it, and build my patience up little by little. Even faithfulness is a hit and miss in this life. We have so many distractions around us today. There are several things we may already be faithful in such as prayer, reading the Word, thanksgiving, and meditating on the Word, but how about in everything else? Like being faithful to put Yahweh's will before our own? Gentleness is another; I am so used to a quick temper that I do speak too harsh when gentleness would have been better. As you can see we have our work cut out for us!

What things do we know that we must gain control over and that we must clean out? If you said that our wicked hearts is one of them, you are right! Who would have known that the one place we are taught that holds good in this life can hold so much of the opposite? 'From within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All of these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean,'' Mark 7:21-23. As it is written: 'At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another,' Titus3:3. We are told over and over to, 'Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice,' Ephesians 4:31. 'Therefore rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of any kind,' 1 Peter 2:1.

We will do well to do just that, and like controlling anything else it takes time, patience, and perseverance. We can do it! As it says in Isaiah 28:10, 'For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there.' Now we must move on to the next body part we all have, and this one is so wicked that if we do not control it, it can do everyone much harm. Can you guess what it can be? Yes, it is our pink little tongues. The tongue is so small, and seemingly harmless, that is until we open our mouths, and allow it to vomit whatever it wants. When I learned about the wickedness of the tongue I really wasn't surprised. Let's see what Yahweh our Father in heaven has to say about our tongue. 'If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless,' James 1:26.

As we can see these two body parts need to be cleaned out and controlled. The great news is that once we have these things under control, we can be sure that we are well on our way to complete perfection in the Messiah! Remember these wise and true words, my brothers and sisters, in Yahshua: do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessings, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, 'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good, he must seek peace and pursue it,' 1 Peter 3:9-11.

Do you understand the importance of these things? I personally have seen the reason why these things are needed, and why they should be done by believers. In the beginning as a baby believer I made the same mistakes that I am sure we all have made. I went around full of zeal for what I thought I knew by what I was taught at church, and I went around pointing my finger at people and pointing out their many sins, and told them all that they would go to hell if they did not repent. This is the message of the churches today, and this is one of the main reasons people judge Yahweh and His word, because they believe that these people actually knew what the word taught, and were doing as it said. Yes, that was me in all my shame. I have to tell you that out of all the sinful and shameful things that I have done in my past (and there are many) nothing touched the level of shame I felt when I learned the truth of my actions.

Now on the flip side, since I am aware of the truth, and matured more in my faith, I have put what Yahweh has shown me through His Spirit into practical use. My enemies cannot say anything bad about me anymore. I have non-believers sticking up for me (a believer), because I had shown them that I was kind, and did my best to show the love that Yahweh has for them through me, by following Yahshua's example. HalleluYah! So it is true when Yahweh has told us this: 'Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify Yahweh on the day He visits us.' We have this awesome responsibility to be beacons of light in this dark and dead world. And we must make sure that our light of LOVE shines through the madness of HATE to be able to reach the most unreachable people. We were all handpicked before we were even born for this great and noble task! 'The Word of Yahweh came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations,'' Jeremiah 1:4-5. Looking back at all my hardships from birth to this point I can see how these words are true! And I can see them and the people involved in a whole new light! So my brothers and sisters in Yahshua, let us pray that we continually do what is right in Yahweh's eyes and continually look at ourselves with sober judgment. As it is written: 'For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith Elohim has given you,' Romans 12:3.