NOT UNTO US BUT TO YHWH BE THE GLORY AND POWER AND AUTHORITY BEFORE TIME AND NOWAND FOREVER! AMEN!
Thia Licona, a bond-servant of Yahshua HaMessiah to all who are inspired to read this article.
February 28, 2007 (5:49pm).
Yahuweh has a method to His teaching and instructions. Before we can fully obey His teaching and instructions, He has to break us.
He has to convince us to give up our lives and take up the life of Yahshua, His Son. How does this happens? Through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit, IN DUE TIME.
I have experienced that power. I have been humbled by that power. I am a broken servant who has become a bond servant by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh.
It took a while for the Ruach HaKodesh to instill upon my mind that He was, is and will be the One who was doing the work and He didn't need my two cents.
I surrendered my life to Him, but, even that surrender I owe it to Him, He was the One who opened my eyes and ears to see and hear His leading voice and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. That offer is found at the end of Romans 6.

Romans 6 (AMP)
1 WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that Yahuweh's grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow?
2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
3 Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Yahshua were baptized into His death?
4 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Yahshua was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.
5 For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for Yahuweh].
6 We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
7 For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men].
8 Now if we have died with Yahshua, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 Because we know that Yahshua (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him.
10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to Yahuweh [in unbroken fellowship with Him].
11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to Yahuweh [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Yahshua.
12 Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.
13 Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to Yahuweh as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to Yahuweh, presenting them as implements of righteousness.
14 For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of Yahuweh's favor and mercy].
15 What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we live not under Law but under Yahuweh's favor and mercy? Certainly not!
16 Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with Yahuweh)?
17 But thank Yahuweh, though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.
18 And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action).
19 I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death.
22 But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of Yahuweh, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.
23 For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of Yahuweh is eternal life through (in union with) Yahshua our Master.

What an offer! I had to choose life. It was not my works, it always has been Him working in me both to will and do according to His will, as it is written,

Philippians 2:12-15 (AMP)12 Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend Yahuweh and discredit the name of Yahshua).
13 [Not in your own strength] for it is Yahuweh Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
14 Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against Yahuweh] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves],
15 That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of Yahuweh without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world,

We are fooling ourselves when we stealthily think that somehow we had something to do with the right choices we make in our lives. Actually, of our own accord, we always choose death.
I tremble to think what would have become of me had the Ruach HaKodesh not stopped me in my evil tracks.
He put a mighty barricade in all the evil paths which I chose. The truth of the matter is that if I wouldn't  have hindered Him in each step in my spiritual life my road wouldn't have been so long, He would have shortened it.
In reality, YHVH Himself delivered my wicked self to Satan that my soul would be saved. As it is written,

1Co 5:4-5 LITV
(4) In the name of our Master Yahshua, you being gathered together with my spirit also, with the power of our Master Yahshua ,
(5) to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Master Yahshua.

Job is another example. Yes, YHVH uses Satan to destroy our wicked beings that our spirits may be purified. It is not a picnic to be in grip of Satan, he steals everything from us and then some.
But when Satan makes his final attempt to totally destroy us, that=s when the Ruach HaKodesh steps in and puts an end to his devices.
We come to our senses and begin the journey home. We are prepared for the worst only to find the best: our loving Father ready to teach us His ways and instructions, His Torah.
That's what happened to me. In 1985 He began the breaking process. And even though I thought I was ready from my very first encounter with Him, I had a LONG ROAD TO TRAVEL IN! Because of doing, doing and doing all kind of holy works on my power.
Over and over again I found myself in Paul's predicament in Roman 7. The wrestling between the carnal, evil nature and the new nature is fought in that road.
But, the Presence is always there, ALWAYS. He never abandons nor forsakes us. He is the One who grasps our hands and leads us in the right path.
And how does He do such, how does He lead us in the right path? By giving us a desire to search the scriptures for own selves, by imprinting those scriptures in our hearts and minds and bringing them to our remembrance every time we are in the brink of a decision.
The only problem is that before we do anything we are suppose to SIT STILL, to wait on YHVH. But we despair, and Moses is not going long before we build ourselves our golden calves.
Yes, things in YHVH's plan are done in due time. Not a minute before nor a minute after. We must wait, we must sit still. There is no short cuts.
And what are we to do while we sit still? Oh! Plenty, is in that time that we must learn YHVH's ways that when Yahshua returns He can seal those things forever in our hearts.
From revelation to revelation, that's how He leads us in that long road in the breaking process. I can tell my story in many different ways but it never fails for someone to tell me: “that's what happened to me!”
So, here I am. This is the year 2007 in the Gregorian Calendar, a year that has been marked by the prophets of old. Will it be this year when we start the beginning of the end?
Only YHVH knows. But Yahshua cautioned us and gave us the signs to watch for, we are witnessing those signs. Are we ready? If you have allowed Him to break you, if you have allowed the breaking process to take place, you most certainly would have that assurance.
I used to wonder often enough, until He put an end to my wonderings and showed me, in the scriptures, that I was ready because He had made me ready, He had taken the surrender of my heart to His heart and made me ready as He broke me from my own evil ways.

Jude 24-25 (AMP)
24 Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]—?
25 To the one only Yahuweh, our Savior through Yahshua our Master, be glory (splendor), majesty, might and dominion, and power and authority, before all time and now and forever (unto all the ages of eternity). Amen (so be it).

Now, the wrestling goes on but He has given me the gift of discernment and the power to overcome my evil nature.
The best part about this walk is that I have ceased from my own works and everything that I do comes spontaneously from my new nature.
I told Garry the other day, “I made up my mind that I am going to stop grumbling!” but, guess what? After I made that statement I realize that I don't grumble, you want know why and how?
Before I made that statement to Garry, a long time ago, YHVH, by the work of the Ruach HaKodesh, took the grumbling out of my lips when He showed me that grumbling was unbelief and it was the great sin that kept the Israelites from entering the Promised Land. As it is written,

Hebrews 3:7-19 (AMP)
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts, as [happened] in the rebellion [of Israel] and their provocation and embitterment [of Me] in the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tried [My patience] and tested [My forbearance] and found I stood their test, and they saw My works for forty years.
10 And so I was provoked (displeased and sorely grieved) with that generation, and said, They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them.
11 Accordingly, I swore in My wrath and indignation, They shall not enter into My rest.
12 [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living Yahuweh.
13 But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him].
14 For we have become fellows with Yahshua (the Messiah) and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation [in virtue of which we are believers] firm and unshaken to the end.
15 Then while it is [still] called Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion [in the desert, when the people provoked and irritated and embittered Yahuweh against them].
16 For who were they who heard and yet were rebellious and provoked [Him]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He irritated and provoked and grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dismembered bodies were strewn and left in the desert?
18 And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [who had not listened to His word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded]?
19 So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on Yahuweh [unbelief had shut them out].

Chapter by chapter we come to the great chapter of faith, chapter 11. We see there the list of the great heroes and heroines of faith. Then, in chapter 12 we find the exhortation,

Hebrews 12:1-2 (AMP)
1 THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Yahshua, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of Yahuweh.

That THEREFORE THEN comes after that great chapter 11 and it is a big THEREFORE. What is it leading to?
He showed me in these scriptures that the sin that so readily clings to us is the sin of UNBELIEF. It is not some secret sin we have been harboring from the past. It is not some secret habit that we can't get victory over.
He showed me that the ROOT of all our sins and bad habits came from LACK OF FAITH IN Yahshua, from UNBELIEF.
Look away from all those distractions and LOOK to Yahshua HaMessiah as the LEADER and the SOURCE of your FAITH, and ALL your ugly habits will disappear, I know, I have been there, at the feet of the Master, soaking it all in! Hallelujah!
We are so willing to work, to have a say so in whatever we do or don't do, to control ourselves, but Yahshua says the only work or service we are required to do is to believe in Him.

John 6:27-29 (AMP)
27 Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and decomposes [in the using], but strive and work and produce rather for the [lasting] food which endures [continually] unto life eternal; the Son of Man will give (furnish) you that, for Yahuweh the Father has authorized and certified Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him.
28 They then said, What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of Yahuweh? [What are we to do to carry out what Yahuweh requires?]
29 Yahshua replied, This is the work (service) that Yahuweh asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].

And so, He has blessed me with the faith to believe in Him and I am reaping a bountiful harvest from His works in me.
He has changed me in a remarkable way. Once a upon a time I used to be religious sticking my foot in my mouth preaching of things I didn't even know.
Then I used to come to Him with the most pious voice I could muster to beg Him to answer me for this or for that.
One day He told me clearly, “why do you have to change your tone of voice when you come to me with all those requests which I have already taken care off?”
So, I said, “and how do You want me to pray Father?” He said, “I want you to come with the voice I have given you and with thanksgiving in your heart to worship Me. I want you to thank Me for taking care of whatever situation that comes to your mind and I want you to wait for Me to talk back at you.”
Wow! What a revelation! Since then I have learnt to talk to my Father, to worship Him and my relationship with Him has become totally intimate.
Often times He tells me He wants to have intimacy with each one of His children. He wants His children to worship Him in spirit and in truth, in the reality of our every day lives.
I finally learnt how to talk to people, how to handle myself in different circumstances. How not to throw my pearls to the swine.
And I learnt how to pray without ceasing, I talk to Him continuously, I laugh and cry with Him and in a pinch, when I am driving in the rain or the snow, I exclaim, “Oh Father send me Your angels to drive this car!” And I am confident that He has a team of angels looking after my driving.
There is no fear, no doubt nor unbelief in this life that I am now living. There is confidence and security in the knowledge that YHVH is in control of my life and He has given me the power to obey His commandments.
I want to end this article with some of my favorite scriptures, inscribed upon my heart, by the finger of the Ruach HaKodesh.

Psalm 91:14-16 (AMP)
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.

Psalm 25:12-14 (AMP)
12 Who is the man who reverently fears and worships Yahuweh? Him shall He teach in the way that he should choose.
13 He himself shall dwell at ease, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Yahuweh have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

Psalm 23:6 (AMP)
6 Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of Yahuweh [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.