Getting Ready

We have been practicing and preparing hard this week for the upcoming weekend, and getting pretty excited about it.  I have been able to hear a few of the things Justin is going to be speaking on, and I have been truley touched by what God is going to do through him.  God has already begun to speak to me through his message.  Chris took a bunch of pictures last night and hopefully we will get a chance to put some up.  We are praying for an encounter with the Holy Spirit, one that we have never experienced before.  We pray that hearts will be softened and lives will be changed because of what our beautiful Jesus has done for us.

Romans 5:5 “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Draw Near to God

 

Hebrews 10:19-25

19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I am in complete awe of our God today.  He draws us near with his mercy and his love.  We are made clean through his blood.  And, we have complete assurance in Him.  He is faithful to His word.  The creator God wants to have a loving relationship with us.  That blows me away. 

Worship God

Hebrews 12:28-29                  

28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”        

 ^{These two verses stopped me in my tracks today.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Trying ever so humanly to process what this means.  Humbly I come before God and confess that I may not always give him the worship He deserves.  First off, my initial response to this is to think of this as a message about praise.  Which, after praying and seeking and reading I know now it’s not.  These two verses, as well as most of Chapter 12 is a message about what our response to God’s new covenant should be.  And, that response should be a lifeof worship that is acceptable to our God.  A life that is in constant reverence of the creator of the universe.  A life that is everlasting awe of the most High God.  A life that reflects His glory, the awesome glory of his consuming fire.  I just keep picturing a group of people (a group that I have been part of from time to time) that stands in front of a little bonfire and gazes into it’s flames, consumed by it’s power.  Now, I can’t help but think how minuscule that fire is compared to God’s consuming fire.  What is our response to that?  Hopefully, it will be a life filled by his Spirit, reflecting his Glory and worshiping in reverence and in awe of his power in everything that we do.  That will be my prayer today.}

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a Happy Resurrection Day!

Exiles who Returned

Ezra 1

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return

 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:  2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
       ” ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’ ”  5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings. 7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. ^[a]

May our lives be an offering to God, the God who has moved our hearts.