No Doubting Allowed

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Well…if the other chapters were hard to understand..this one sure was clear.  No doubting allowed.  My favorite definition of faith….after I read several different ones on Google was - Faith…COMPLETE…trust or confidence in someone or something…capital letters mine.  Faith is the substance of the things we can not see…the assurance in our human soul that what we believe in our heart is really the way we believe it to be.

I learned a lot from my bible study book, “ Adventuring Through the Bible” by Ray Steadman.  I hope I get this paraphrase correct…cause I really liked the way he explained that faith was not just a thought in our brains or our souls…if we truly have faith…it manifests itself in action.  He said that faith anticipates the future…acts in the present…evaluates the past…and persists to the end.  As I read the short summary of  the great people who had great faith …four of them stood out as examples of just what Mr. Steadman said.

 Noah was so COMPLETELY sure of his faith that he built a boat…not just in case it rained…because he knew it would.  He anticipated the future….the future that would bring water from the sky for the first time…so much water that a flood would destroy everything that God had made.

And then there was Joseph.  What better example of living in the present can you get?  He relied on God for so much…on a day to day basis.  He had to rely COMPLETELY on God…and wait until he blessed him so much that he eventually became a great leader in Egypt….and saved his family from the famine no one saw coming but God.

King David struck me as the perfect example of evaluating the past.  He was a man after God’s own heart…so when he realized his sin…cause he did mess up pretty bad with the beautiful Bathsheba…and even murdered her husband. I love the ending to his story…where he COMPLETELY surrendered and repented of his past sins…cause it says that no matter how big a mess we create with our sin….if we ask God to forgive us…we can use the self reflection to become an even stronger person. 

Moses…the faith he had…it is an example of  great courage. He had to dare to see himself in a new career.  His faith dared to believe that a talking bush…God in disguise… really had the power to help him overcome all kinds of weaknesses to lead a huge group of people around in a wilderness for over 40 years.  He COMPLETELY sold out to God and became one of the greatest prayer warriors and leaders of all time.  (Sure wish he were still alive to run for president this year..lol!)

And finally…but of course…not last… is the great Paul. His faith COMPLETELY persisted to the last moment of his life.  Preaching…teaching…rebuking…and gently loving everyone that God told him to love. His great persistent faith was recorded in more bible chapters than any other.

Father…continue to build my faith.  Guide me with your burning bush and help me be so COMPLETELY sure of my future with you that with your confidence I can build my own boat to traverse through the floods of the present day.  Give me the ability to evaluate my past for what it was…and use the training you provided in my mistake to help someone else who needs guidance and comfort.  Most of all father…I need your confidence to dare.  Help me to dare to believe that I can do all things because you are right there with me…just like you were with all the ones that believed before me. Amen.

Waiting...again!

Hebrews 10:9-14 - Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second.  And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

I have to be honest with you…really honest. Hebrews has been really hard for me to read. At first I thought it was due do being out of my routine….having to write at odd times…having my mind preoccupied with my mom’s progress from her horrible bout with pneumonia…  one night I even resorted to reading a chapter on my phone ap. I love my mom so much…but I knew the strength to deal with her sickness would come from the relationship I had built with God…reading my bible each night..so somehow …no matter what….I needed to find time to read and process what he said to me.

But as I read last night..I thought about how formal the author of Hebrews was. He uses big words and his sentences seem so difficult to decipher in plain English.  So I tried to do what I teach my students to do…when a passage is hard to understand…look for smaller phrases that make sense.  That’s when I noticed the word ‘waited.’ I have seen that one many time lately…so I wasn’t surprised to see it at all.  And as I reread the sentence it contained…the insight was revealed.  JESUS HAD TO WAIT!!!!  Amazing that I never saw that before.

Jesus waited many times while he was doing the will of God on this Earth…but now that he has received his reward…now that he sits next to his father…now that he intercedes for me when I need it…he has to wait until the time is right for Satan to be completely and permanently defeated.  (I had to put the picture out of mind immediately of him turning to his father every minute and asking if it was time yet…is it time yet…Can I go get them now?) So as I write today…I have no excuses for being an impatient follower of Christ.  If he is up there waiting…and I am sure it is a very serene quiet scene as they sit in the throne room of Heaven.  I guess I had better learn to do a better job of it too. If I don’t wait on God….if I try to do it on my own….I will make a mess …I will lose my footing.  If I don’t wait…I let go of God’s hand….and run in front of him….and I will surely fall again.

He gives us some great advice on how to wait later in the chapter…so make sure you read the whole thing.  He starts out by telling us to keep our heart sincere….to hold on to the assurance that God gave us a promise…to use our faith daily to stay strong.  Then he tells us to remember that we have been washed in his precious blood…and show our thankfulness by spurring one another on in love…and to meet together and give other strength. It all makes sense…and many of us understand exactly what he is saying here…waiting teaches us patience…just like the author of Romans 5:3 tells us that sometimes Gods uses our hardships to teach us to wait.

I could never thank you enough God for the great lessons you have used in my life to teach me how to wpassionait.  Help me to get better and better at it as you allow me to live daily on this Earth. Help me to realize each morning the importance of waiting on you to move in my life. Help me to stop creating commotion and making messes for you to clean up. Give me a clean heart …oh God…and renew a right spirit within my imperfect body.  Assure me of your love and help me to find ways to share my faith with others. Show me how best to encourage each person who crosses my pathway….and fellowship with others to recharge my energy to do your will. Amen.

Jesus...Our HIgh Priest

Hebrews 9:1-7 -  Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.  When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.  But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

Think really hard about the old way…the way Moses had to teach the Israelites’ to worship God. They had to follow such formal rules…rules that showed not only their obedience and loyalty…but their reverence. The temple had to be built just so…the table arranged with just the right items…the perfect lamb or cow killed in just the right way.  If all the rules were followed just so…the actions paid the high price God required to forgive the sins they committed….actions that required blood to wash and purify their soul....actions that showed they loved God more than anything else.

I find myself guilty once again this morning…guilty of taking for granted the high price Jesus paid for my salvation…so I don’t have to live in that world of rules.  He simplified my life beyond comprehension when his obedience allowed the perfect blood of God’s son to wash all my sins away. He entered the holy of holies that day when he conquered death...he became my high priest…who could now sit in the presence of God and intercede for every soul that asks him to save them.

Something else strikes me about this scripture. It says that the high priest entered only once a year…Exodus 28 describes the bells they had to wear… just in case they had not followed a rule and were struck dead when they dared enter the holy of holies without properly purifying themselves for service.  Jesus made it possible for me to have access to God 24/7….Jesus will intercede for me not just when I ask ….but when he feels I need it. I do not have to pray through a priest…or the mother Mary….I can lift my voice anywhere I happen to be…my wonderful home….a hospital room…Mickey Dees….or lowliest abode that exists in our world.  Mark 15:32 says, “And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” The priests no longer had to go and offer sacrifices for the people….they did not have to wear anymore bells on their cloaks.  Jesus hears our cries…and as our High Priest…he intercedes in all matters to the father.

For some reason…I think we all know why without my saying it…I feel compelled to keep sacrificing.  I don’t have the old rules memorized…cause I don’t need them.  I just have to give God my heart…and he sends the Holy Spirit to tell me what to sacrifice.  Some days it is simply my time to answer the phone….others it is a financial donation to a ministry I believe he put a passion in my heart to support….and even others it is a menial task that shows I love my neighbor more than I do myself.

Thank you father for your precious gift …your son’s perfect blood that washed away all my sin.  I thank ou as well for the Holy Spirit that you sent to guide my heart..and help me to decipher how you want me to share the blessings you put me in charge of in this season of my life.   Continue to help me stay humble…so I can hear you clearly.   Give me eyes that see every need you send to me…ears that hear every cry for help that you intend for me to minister to….and a heart that continues to search for new ways to spread your love to the people of this world who have no clue how wonderful is it!  Amen.

Pay it Forward

Hebrews 7:7 – And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.

I have read Hebrews 7 several times now…once last night…once as I started to write about it this morning…and once again just now as the darkness fades into night. I should be reading Hebrews 8…but I was stuck.  I hardly had any notes after I read last night…so I reread it this morning wondering what the priest had to do with my humble existence…I am nothing…much less than the priest Melchizedek. I just didn’t hear any clear message on this one today…and I sure couldn’t read another chapter without asking God one more time to help me figure out what he needed me to learn from this chapter.

My parents don’t have internet...and since I really don’t feel compelled to run out to Mickey Dees at this late hour to do research…AND…my phone service was inadequate to cheat and look up a commentary on the chapter for insights …I guess God just really wants to me to think this one out with just him.  So I as I opened the bible once more to try and figure it out I whispered…cause everyone is asleep but me..lol…I whispered…Jesus help me…help me… help me…a few times and I looked down to see this verse.

Seems like a no brainer…you have to be greater to bless the lesser …right?  You have to have something to give away to bless someone …right? Well if we only look at the surface here…that is true…but I can’t help but wonder how some of the poorest people in the world end up blessing others too.  Even in the bible…there are countless stories of how Jesus took little or nothing…blessed it and turned it into a mighty miracle.  Who would have thought that spit mixed with dirt could restore sight…or five fish and a few loaves of bread could feed five thousand men…not to mention all the women and children that traveled with them.

The key here… I think God is telling me… is that we must always realize that what we own belongs to God anyway. The more we have been blessed with the more we have to bless others with.  And we have to remember that we have been blessed with more than just material wealth and money.  We have been given personality gifts…to make others laugh…to bring compassion into the lives of those that suffer….to give of our time in ministries…or prayer.  Our high priest…Jesus…meets our needs through the blessings he has showered on us all…and is calling us to be the greater one and bless those that need whatever we have to offer. We are not to hoard these blessings…and keep them to ourselves. We are to pay it forward…be the greater…and find someone lesser to bless…like Jacob did.

Father…as I pray tonight…and you bless me with internet to post sometime tomorrow…I realize that you have given me so much more that I ever realized to share with others.  Give me new eyes to see how I can be the greater one as I walk through each day and share the great blessings you entrusted me with… to others. Forgive me once again for not realizing how selfish I really am…and show me how to invest the blessings you entrusted to me in others each day. Amen.

Our Sanctuary

Hebrews 8:1-2 – The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not man.

When Jesus died on that cross and saved me from all the atrocious sins he knew I would commit in my lifetime…he changed the whole system people used to ask God to forgive them.  I no longer have to offer a sacrifice through a priest…He became my sacrifice and my high priest…and when we accept his love for us and ask him to live in our hearts…we become his temple.

I am trying to wrap my naive human brain around that one as I write….cause my concept of a temple includes a building…a place where one might gather to sing praises to the father…a place where I go to fellowship with other Christians and study and worship. This scripture says once I accept him…once I ask him to live in my heart…that I become his sanctuary. 

I had to look this one up...and quickly found Exodus 25:8 , “ And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I might dwell among them.” God has been trying to teach us how to turn our hearts into his sanctuary since Moses’ day …amazing!  Jesus takes this imperfect human flesh and transforms it with his love… and the heart that he enters…changed forever to love him back becomes his temple…a heart where his loves teaches our brains new ways of thinking…and the temple we live in refuses to do it any way other that the way Jesus taught us.

Father..help me today to really understand that I am your church…I am the temple that you live in and I need to keep it pure and holy…so it will be a place worthy of your residence.  Thank you for this wonderful reminder that the shell where I go to worship on Sunday houses many individual temples…each one housing the wonderful love that you shared with me when you saved me.  Father …help me to keep my temple holy and pure …write your laws on my brain and allow the truth of their purity overflow in everything I do and say.  Dwell in my heart in ever increasing amounts…and let your love spread through everything I do and say. Amen.

Maturity

Hebrews 6:1-3 and 11-12 - Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so…… We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Sorry...I am verse jumping again…but these are the verses that spoke to me as a read. God is calling each of us to a new maturity….to push ourselves to new levels God love for the God who saved us. It is no accident that as I write and process this scripture I read two nights ago…that God is teaching me this lesson in more ways than just reading it in his Bible.

My mom has been so sick…pneumonia…it saps the life right out of your body.  I am watching her improve daily….feeding herself was such a task that she needed help just to span the full distance from the plate to her mouth.  She ‘might’ get to sit up in a chair today…and we will celebrate those seeming baby steps.  Each small task prepares her to something more difficult…feeding herself will lead to  combing her own hair….sitting up in a chair will lead to walking soon. We want to baby her…do it all for her…and let her rest…but she won’t get stronger that way.  She has to push herself to do more than she feels she can…so her weak muscles will regain all the strength she had before she got sick.

Our Christian walk should be no different…we should push ourselves to do more than we think we should.  We should never let anyone baby us…even though that feels so safe and good sometimes…even though we get so tired sometimes that we want to give up.  Like Jesus…when he walked this Earth…we must push ourselves beyond what the world expects.  We must stay at the temple when we are only 13….for two extra days…studying the scripture.  We must heal and preach and teach …even when we are so tired we must depend on God’s strength instead of our own. We must never be lazy.

Thank you God for your word that reminds me to push myself farther than I think I can go.  Forgive me for all the days I was lazy…and depended on others to feed me just enough to call myself your child.  Help me to push myself farther than I think I can go and learn more each day than I think my brain can hold. Give me the power to depend on you to give me just the wisdom you know I need each day. Amen.

Obedience

Hebrews 5: 7-8 – During the days of Jesus’ life on Earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered

I’m not sure I can really comprehend with my human brain what Jesus must have felt when he prayed to his father. He must have known from the beginning of his ministry that God’s will for his life was to be our perfect lamb. That just makes his 3 years of ministry more remarkable to me.   It says here that Jesus raised loud cries and shed tears...and he asked that his father God save him from death.  It also says that God heard his cries…because of his reverent submission…but the word that caught my heart….the word that God made sure I saw…was obedience.

Jesus’ obedience involved a sacrifice I have trouble wrapping my brain around. He traveled this world with little more than the clothes on his back…he gave so much more than he ever received. E worked longer hours than I could ever imagine. The last days of his life his prayers stressed his body so much that he sweat blood…he took beatings that tore chunks of his flesh… was forced to make a long walk carrying a heavy wooden cross …suffered dehydration…felt pain from nails driven through the bones of his wrists and feet.   And if that pain we have recorded is not enough….just imagine the pain he must have suffered as he died….and waited for the father to deem him perfect enough…worthy to be our sacrifice.

But the miracle we have that gives us hope is that Jesus was heard…and his Earthly prayers were answered as he was carried by the angels to his father…triumphant over death.  He was wrapped in his father’s arms as I am sure God told him how proud of him he was. Oh what a promise for us if we master the skill of obedience.  It makes me feel guilty this evening….and oh so thankful…that Jesus was so obedient.  It reminds me just how spoiled…and selfish I really am…the worst pain I have ever felt does not compare.

Father…thank you for reminding me of just how much your son loved me.  Thank you for allowing your son to model for me how to be obedient….even to death on a horribly painful cross.  Forgive me once again for needing a reminder of how selfish my human flesh is….and help me to continue to strive for that perfect trust in you that can give me the strength to master obedience …help me to listen for your perfect will for my life…and walk with you more closely.  Amen.