Entering into the Blessing of the Throne of God

2 Chronicles 5:7

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

The Holy of Holies, also known as the Most Holy Place, was the inner room of the Jewish Temple in which was kept the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Cherubim, manna, Aaron's rod and a copy of the 10 Commandments. It was the place where blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat (the lid on top of the Ark) as an atonement for the sins of Israel.  The single high priest designated for duty on the day of atonement was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.  That was the only time in the entire year that anyone could enter.  It was the only path and process that the Jewish people had in order to gain access to Almighty God.

Jesus changed all of that.  Upon His death on the Cross, the veil that separated the people from the Most Holy Place was torn in two.  In one divine moment access to the throne of God was opened to all people for all time.

As we leave the old year behind and prepare to enter the new year ahead, let us consider what a wondrous privilege we have been given.  We no longer have to wait on anyone to enter into a direct, intimate relationship with Our Father in heaven.  Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, permanently opened the way for us to enter the Holy of Holies.

As we take advantage of our blessing, let us remember that it is pleasing to God when we enter His throne room.  But let us be sure to learn from the actions of the high priest in approaching the Most Holy Place.  As we approach Almighty God, let us enter His presence with awe and reverence.  Let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and with praise.  Let us seek personal cleansing and forgiveness through the confession of our sins.  Let us pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Let us pray in accordance with the Holy Word of God.  Let us make a personal commitment to surrender to His will for our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us access to Your throne through Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We bless the name of Your Son for providing the pathway for us to have a personal relationship with You.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will help us to approach Your throne in the manner that is pleasing to You.  We ask that we be given the grace that we need to pay the price necessary to gain the intimacy that we seek with You.  We ask all these things in the name of our High Priest and Mediator, Jesus Christ.

Aligning Our Thoughts with the Heart of Jesus

Colossians 3:2

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

As we move toward the new year, let us follow the instruction of God's Holy Word and set our minds on things that are above in heaven where Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.  Let us intentionally replace the images of sorrow, suffering, personal horror and overwhelming struggles continuing to pile up in the daily news from the world, and perhaps even in our own personal worlds, with images of goodness such as the the joyous images of the Christmas season that are fresh in our minds.  Let us recognize that our current reality is in God's future plan for us and not in today's news.  Let us grasp with hope and faith that God has a good and perfect plan for every broken person and for every painful situation.  Let us reorder our thinking so that the power of Heaven can be released in our lives.

Know that it will not be easy to take the higher path.  The pathway to fear and despair are easy roads directed downward by emotion and logic.  Certainly the world will be ready to mock us if we dare to take the higher road when our destination cannot be seen with the natural eye.  

Let us be strengthened by the knowledge that we are always secure in Jesus Christ no matter what is happening around us.  Let us rejoice in knowing that our final destination will be our testimony of God's faithfulness.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessed hope and assurance that we have in Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We bless His name for He is our anchor, firm and secure.  We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see Your goodness in the dark world that surrounds us.  We ask that the Holy Spirit renew and reorder our thinking so that we may align our thinking with Your heart and Your kingdom purpose.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Hope that springs eternal, Jesus Christ.

Feasting in the Real Provision

John 7:37

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

Jesus went with his disciples to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  The feast began five days after the Day of Atonement at the time the fall harvest had just been completed. It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God’s continued provision for them in the current harvest and remembered His provision and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness.  The celebration for the feast lasted for 8 days.  It was a grand feast by earthly measures.

On the last and greatest day of the feast, every man and woman would have surely filled themselves with food and drink and enjoyed and experienced all that the celebration had to offer them.  Yet Jesus knew that there would still be a hunger there that was unsatisfied.  He welcomed them to come to Him for the satisfaction that only He could provide.

As we stand here at the end of our year and our Christmas season, the same holds true for us today. God has protected us and provided for us as we have gone through yet another wild year in our out-of-control world.  We have just completed a season of celebration.  We have over-filled ourselves with food, drink, gifts and festive experiences.  Yet somehow we are not satisfied.

Let us take our thirst and our hunger to the One who waits to satisfy us.  Let us learn to feast in the real provision of this holiday season, Jesus Christ.  Let us share our fullness of spirit with the world.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the provisions and protections that You have provided throughout the past year.  We bless the name of Jesus through whom all of Your grace, mercy and loving kindness has been released to us.  We confess, Lord, that we have filled ourselves on all the world has offered and yet we are still unsatisfied.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us as we learn to forsake the world and surrender completely to Your Son who invites us into His life.  May we live in the fullness and glory of His presence.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who supplies our strength, our power and our eternal satisfaction, Jesus Christ.  

Living Under Real Authority

Mark 1:22

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority--quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

The Jews were astonished at the great truths that Jesus was teaching.  The nature and importance of what He was teaching was unlike anything that they had ever heard.  The teaching of Jesus was distinctly different from the teaching of the Scribes, who relied so heavily on traditions.  The manner in which He taught was also different.  He taught with such grace, such gravity and such majesty.  His teaching was rich in evidence and power.  He taught as if He had the authority to do so and needed to rely on no one else for the basis of His teaching.  He taught independent of all men, all tradition and the religiousity that preceded Him.  He taught fully dependent on His Father in heaven.

What made Jesus’ teaching distinctly different from the teachers of the law was that He taught and lived under the absolute authority of Almighty God.  Everything that Jesus did was based on the truth in God’s Word.  No wonder he stood out from teachers of the law who based their teaching on every other form of authority.  Some sought their authority based on the things that they had reasoned through their own logic.  Some sought their authority based on the traditions that history had revealed to them.  Some sought their authority based on the trending ethics and morals of their culture.  Some even sought their authority based on their emotion.  It is no wonder that the people were able to recognize the brilliance of Jesus’ teaching.

Although we may never be teachers, we must decide under what authority that we will make our daily life decisions.  Shall we make our life decisions based on our own reasoning?  Shall we make our decisions based on what traditions teach us?  Shall we make our life decisions based on what is trending in our culture?  Shall we make our life decisions based on how we feel?  If we follow any of these false forms of authority, we will open ourselves up to short-term regrets and eternal risks.  

Let us make all of our life decisions under the only real authority.  Let us build and sustain our lives based on the absolute authority of God’s Holy Word.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us the Truth, Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for the amazing and life-changing doctrine that He delivered to us with divine authority.  We praise You for inspiring the authors of the Books of the Bible so that we might have the Good News of the Gospel for presentation throughout the ages.  We pray, Lord, that our lives will be living testimonies to the way, the truth and the life that Your Son secured for us on the Cross.  May the world around us be drawn to Your Son, Jesus, as they see us living under the divine authority of Your Holy Word.  We ask all these things in the name of the Witness to the People, Jesus Christ.

Let Us Trust in His Word, His Laws, His Commandments

Romans 10:3

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

Most of the Jews at the time of Christ were more interested in an outward show of their piety than to submit to the new freedom and righteousness offered by Jesus.  Jesus offered two commandments.  Love God above all things and love thy neighbor as thyself.  Yet the Jews clung to their traditions.  The Pharisees followed 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions.  There was no room in their lives for the message of the Gospel for it was crowded out by their obstinance in sticking to their own man made laws.  Their lifestyles were dictated by their independence from God.

Move forward some 2000 years.  Our nation was born under a call for fierce independence from a government that wanted to control how individuals related to their Creator.  The early founders, while becoming fiercely independent of England, became fiercely dependent on Almighty God.  But over time, Satan has done his evil work in our nation.  Many individuals in America have become arrogantly and selfishly independent of God.  They have built their lives around self-manipulated lifestyles that require no God and they have fashioned laws to fit their choices.

Let us, as a nation, firmly grasp the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus Christ.  Let us pray for our leaders to make God's Word and His commandments the foundation of our legal system.  As a nation, let us once again look to Almighty God as the God in Whom we trust.

As citizens, let us keep His laws and observe them in our hearts.   Let us delight in the path we follow when we follow the Lord's commandments.  Let our lives become living testimonies of His righteousness.   

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing Your laws on our hearts.  We praise the name of Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.  We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who stands with us to incline our hearts toward the ways of Our Savior and not our own.  We pray, Father, that as You touch our hearts with Your laws that You will also touch the hearts of the leaders of this nation.  May we once again return to be a nation that has its trust in You.  May we once again be a nation whose laws are the same as Your laws.  We ask all these things in the name of the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Christ.

The Miracle of His Love Manifested Among Us

1 John 4:9

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Christmas is the celebration of a spectacular supernatural event.  Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to this earth so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This event was one that could not be accomplished by the efforts of man.  Only God could orchestrate such an act of love and supernatural endowment.

There are scoffers around each Christmas season who try to deny the great gift that has been provided for all mankind to receive.  They try to logically dissuade others from having faith in the true story of Christmas.  Yet to do so, they must try to make others believe that the God who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun and who upholds the entire universe itself will prove unable to fulfill His own promises.

Is it possible that the One who hangs the world on nothing is unable to deliver on His promises to His children?  Does He not hold the winds and the clouds and the oceans themselves in His hand?  How can He fail His children?  We have every reason to be absolutely firm in our faith.

Let us celebrate openly and with great fervor the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Let us freely share the love that He has manifest in us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son to live in this world so that we may be supernaturally endowed with His presence in our lives and we may become heirs to Your eternal kingdom.  We bless the name of Your Son, Jesus, who became poor so that we may have all the treasures of heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us each day to provide us with the peace that only Jesus can offer.  We pray that as we receive these wondrous gifts that we surrender to the reign of Our Savior in our lives.  May our lives become our love gifts to You, Father.  May the world know us by our fervor for Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Our New Born King, Jesus Christ.

Christmas is Every Day for the Children of God

Matthew 18:3

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What a wonderful time Christmas is to a small child in our culture.  They go to bed on Christmas Eve eagerly anticipating the arrival of the gift giver.  They burst from their beds on Christmas morning knowing that they will find gifts with their names on them under the Christmas tree.  Many of the gifts will be there simply for their pleasure.  Other gifts will be there for their comfort and provision.  They receive them all with great joy.  All the while, they never doubt that the gift giver will provide for them that which they could not provide for themselves.

This is the type of reliance that God wants to see from all of us.  God wants us to rely on Him for everything without ever considering that we could provide for ourselves just as well.  Of course, the gifts that He gives to us are far more valuable than anything we could find under a tree.  Almighty God provides us with the gift of life.  He sustains our lives with every single breath we take.  Along the way, He sees that our pleasures, our provisions and our comforts are taken care of.  Then He provides the greatest gift of all – eternal life in His heavenly kingdom.  All He ever asks from us is to accept His Son as Our Savior. 

Let us learn to respond to Our Heavenly Father like small children.  Let us run to Him for everything.  No matter whether we need comfort, provision or direction, let us seek the arms of our gracious Father.  Let us rejoice in knowing that He has the power to provide whatever it is that we need or desire.  Most of all, let us completely trust in Him for the true treasures of His eternal kingdom.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessings and the benefits that we receive as Your children.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to inherit Your kingdom and all of its provision and protection for all eternity.  We pray, Father, that we be renewed in our minds so that we may become as simple, as humble and as teachable as small children.  May we discard forever all the self-seeking lifestyles, distrust and deceit that we learn from the world.  May we walk in the excellence of Our Savior.   We ask all these things in the name of Our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. 

The Timeliness of Jesus' Birth and Our Own

Galatians 4:4

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was born when He was?  Mankind certainly could have benefitted from His arrival at any point in time.  So why was He born exactly when He was born?

Consider that Jesus was born at a time when the whole world spoke and understood one language.   The Greek language, which had been mandated during time of Alexander the Great, remained the prevalent language spoken throughout all of Rome’s conquered territories.  The early evangelists could travel to any point in the Roman Empire, deliver their message in Greek and know that their message would be understood.

Because the Romans had built a massive road system unlike anything the world had ever known, travel was relatively easy.  The early evangelists were able to get to any major population group within the Roman Empire.  To add to the ease of travel, unlike most other time periods before Christ's arrival, the Roman Empire quieted the warring factions.  Worldwide peace was established for over 200 years.  During this time frame, Roman centuries were posted along the major roadways to insure that there was no impediment to safe travel within the conquered territories.

As a final element of God's perfectly timed plan, we find that the Jews had been dispersed throughout the Roman Empire.  Even though there was no longer a central temple for the Jews, there were active synagogues built throughout the Roman territory.  These synagogues were attended regularly.  They made for easy access points to disseminate the Good News of the Gospel throughout the land.

With all these factors coinciding perfectly, it is remarkable how ideal the circumstances were for the rapid spread of the story of Jesus and His salvation message for all of mankind.  And it was all in perfect accordance with the many prophecies that were fulfilled to the letter.  The arrival of Our Savior was not only perfectly timed, it was a confirmation of the infallible nature of the Word of God.

As we celebrate the birth of Our Savior this Christmas, let us consider in awe that Almighty God was just as purposeful in selecting our time on this earth as He was in selecting the time for His Son.  Let us recognize that we were all created for this exact time and place in the history of mankind.  Let us rejoice in knowing that Our Father in heaven has a specific plan for our lives on this earth and with Him for all eternity.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the miraculous birth of Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for giving each of us the gift of life.  We rejoice in knowing that You created each of us with a sovereign, gracious purpose for our lives.  We bless the name of Jesus who shed His blood so that we may be worthy to do the things that You have created us to do.  We exalt the Holy Spirit for standing by us so that we may overcome our weaknesses.  We pray for the strength to persevere in pursuing Your will for our lives and not our own.  May the fruit of our efforts be our gifts back to you this Christmas season and all the days of our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of Your dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ.