21st Day of Advent: Judge

"And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man.  Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out--those how have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.  By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgement is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." 

John 5:27-30

We have seen the duality of Jesus.  He is the Lion and the Lamb.  He is the High Priest and the Sacrifice.  Here, He is proclaiming Himself with the authority and power to judge others.  We normally think of Jesus as Love but He is also Judge.  God gave Him this responsibility. He is also referring to the final Judgement. In the Book of Revelation, John gives a glimpse into the throne room of God, as he sees it revealed to Him by Jesus. But lastly and most importantly, He states that His judgment is just.  Why? Because He is seeking to please His Father and not Himself.  He will reward the good and punish the bad according to their deeds. (Revelation 4-5). 

In John 8, the Pharisees bring an adulterous woman to Jesus to try and trap Him in His answer to how to deal with her. He shocks them all by responding that whoever is sinless can throw the first stone at her. Everyone walks away, starting with the older Pharisees. They all knew they were not without sin and can't condemn this woman just because she was caught in the act and it was public (John 8). It's the same with us. I ask myself the question when I read this: Who am I throwing stones at when I deserve the stones to be thrown at me?

Why do we think that we can do a better job at judging than Jesus?  Why do I judge a person's character based on their appearance?  I can't answer those questions.  I do know that when I find myself judging others, gossiping about their actions in a condescending tone, or thinking harsh thoughts about them, I can turn to God.  I can pray for help to stop those actions.  I can pray for the self-control to hold my tongue and cleanse my thoughts.  I need to hand the role of Judge back over to Jesus.  Oh how I need this truth!!

In His Love,

A   

20th Day of Advent: Jehovah Jireh

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

Romans 5:17

Jehovah Jireh is one of my favorite names for the Lord because it means the Lord provides.  In so many ways these past few years, He has provided for me what I needed most just when I needed it.  If you don't know my mom had a brain aneurysm in 2013.  You can read more about it here and here.  We needed just about everything and God always provided then and over the past six years.  He has given us amazing supportive family members and friends.

God the Father always provides based off His great plan for our lives.  Jesus provides because He gave us a way to deal with our sins and for us to be able to go to heaven.  The Holy Spirit provides us with knowledge, insight, and conviction as we read scripture as well as peace and assurance.  Our Triune God perfectly provides in every way!!

He not only provides us with everything but it's everything that we need!  He knows exactly what we need at every moment of the day.  If you don't know what you may need, then ask Him!  Ask Him to reveal to you what you may need at that very moment.  Then remember He will provide in His Time and in His Way.  However, He will always be with us!

If I'm honest, I struggle most days with not trusting God in His provision.  I say and know that He provides but often I doubt.  I doubt because He doesn't meet my expectations of what I want for my life.  Although I know His plan is good and need to remind myself of this.  We see in Romans 5:17 that God provides abundantly!!!  His provision may not be material but spiritual truths.  The past few years, He has provided me abundantly with understanding and desire to read the scriptures.  What is He providing you with?  Is it material?  If not, how does this change your praise and worship of Him?

I would love to hear your provision stories :)

In His Love,
A

19th Day of Advent: Interceder

"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

 Hebrews 7:25

Jesus died and was raised but now what does He do?  He's in Heaven interceding for us!!

Why do we need an Interceder? Well God is holy.  We can't go near Him because we are sinful.  We as humans also can never stop sinning.  We have tried.  The Old Testament is full of examples.  Even after God wiped out all the evil people with the Flood (Genesis 7-9), sin still managed to take over. We needed a way to get rid of the hold sin has on us--Jesus is that Way! 

Jesus never stops being the Way to the Father.  He in fact is the Only Way!  So that means He is constantly, going to the Father on our behalf.  He intercedes each and every day for us.  Now that Jesus is in between us and God, we can have a relationship with God.  A personal relationship.  The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you once you accept Jesus as your Savior (1 Corinthians 6:19).  That is a deeper relationship with God, then even Moses, could have!  The closest he was to God was in the Tent of the Meeting or on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-40).  We have God living INSIDE of us! How amazing is that?!

Jesus intercedes daily so that we are covered by His blood shed on the cross.  Blood needed to be shed for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).  Our sins are covered by Jesus' blood and sacrifice on the cross.  Therefore, God can now see us through the Perfect Lens of His Perfect Interceding Son, Jesus.  When He looks at us, we are now sinless.  If Jesus didn't intercede for us then we wouldn't be able to have a wonderful intimate relationship with Our Awesome God. 

What words can you use to express your gratitude towards Him for this role?  

With His Love,

A

18th Day of Advent: Living One

 

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"I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!"

Revelation 1:18 

Yesterday we looked at Jesus' death and what it means for us, today, let's look at His resurrection.  I already wrote a bit about the resurrection a few days ago but it is sooo pivotal that it's worth repeating!!

When Jesus died on the cross, the whole world shook (Matthew 27:54), it certainly wasn't the death of an ordinary human.  He was the only unique One that is both Human and God.  Therefore, although He died a real death and bled real blood, only His body died.  His Spirit did not die because He is also the eternal God.  Three days after His death, His body rose from the tomb, and was made new.  This is a foreshadow of what will happen to our bodies one day :) 

Anyways, Jesus is ALIVE and living in Heaven.  John saw Him there during the visions he saw that he recorded in the book of Revelation.  He is not dead.  He is working in our lives and in this world through His Spirit whom He has given us.  We do not serve and worship a dead god but A LIVING GOD!! 

How is God alive in your life?  Does the Holy Spirit inside of you make you feel more alive?  I know that when He came to live in me, I felt more alive, like my life was significant and worthy.  He can do that for you too!  All you have to do is ask :) 

In His Love,

A

17th Day of Advent: Atonement Sacrifice

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood--to be received by faith.  He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--"

Romans 3:25

This is Christmas...why are we talking about Jesus' Death??? Jesus was born as a human to deal with our sin problem.  Sin can only be dealt with by death...

We need to take a journey back to the Old Testament to understand atonement sacrifices.  When God gave Moses the law of the Israel Nation, He instructed Moses to build a portable Tabernacle (they were still traveling to the Promised Land).  Only priests chosen by God (the Levites) could enter this Tabernacle.  The main purpose for the Tabernacle was for God to be able to dwell among His people.  The Israelites pitched their tents all around the Tabernacle tent so that it was in the middle of their campground.

The Israelites knew when God was in the Tabernacle because the Pillar of Cloud or Fire would be over the Tabernacle.  Therefore, to be able to enter the Tabernacle, one had to be Holy since it was the dwelling place of the Holy God.  The priests would offer sin sacrifices daily.  Then once a year, on the day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place (the actual place God dwelled) and offer an Atonement Sacrifice. 

This sacrifice would be for all the sins of the people that had been committed for the year.  Only the high priest was allowed to do this.  There were many preparations that needed to be performed like washing and cleansing before the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place where God dwelled.  Since humans are sinners and God is Holy, He can't be near us.  (Exodus 25-30)

This is where Jesus comes in!! He became that Atonement Sacrifice for all of us.  He was the sin sacrifice for all the people.  However, since Jesus was the Son of God, making Him God, He is infinite.  Since Jesus is Eternal and Infinite, His sacrifice can cover the sins of people yet to come, like you and me!  That's so amazing because the price of our sins was paid for over 2000 years ago.  We will never see that price (death) because Jesus has canceled it for us.  

Have you accepted that Jesus' death paid the price for your sins?

With His Love,

A