Paddling upstream

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Hebrews 3

Dear sisters, Hebrews 3:13 tells us to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of us would be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This English word “exhort” is the Greek word “parakaleo,” a verb that literally means to call near or to call to one’s side.

http://www.BlueLetterBible.com

I love this idea of exhortation literally meaning to call near or to call to one’s side. Exhortation is not standing behind you, pushing you forward, commanding you to get going. Rather, exhortation is calling you up to walk with me.

“Come on, sister. Come on, daughter. Come with me.
Walk this journey with me.
Hold my hand. Let’s walk together.
God is with us. He will give us the strength that we need. Jesus has walked this road before and given us an example. We can persevere by His grace and His Spirit at work in us.”

This is your call to persevere.

Sisters, it is easy to drift downstream, but it takes effort to fight against the current. If we want to go upstream, we have to put our paddles in the water and do the work.

But we are not called to row alone. Let’s get in the boat together. When we both put our hands to the oars and pull together side by side, we can go farther and accomplish more than we ever could on our own.

  • Who in your life needs some encouragement?
  • Who can you parakaleo – call to your side – today?
  • In what area of your life is God calling you to persevere?

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, Thank You for the gift of encouragement we have in Your Holy Spirit. He is our paraclete, our helper and advocate. We are not alone. You are always with us. I pray for each of my sisters who are feeling lonely, who feel like they are rowing all by themselves in the middle of a vast ocean. Lord, help them to remember that You are with them and that there is a vast army of believers surrounding them, rowing alongside them. Please place that lonesome sister into a body of believers who can parakaleo her, who can row with her and encourage her to keep going until the final finish line, until the moment she hears Your voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the name of Jesus Christ, our advocate, we pray. Amen.

Freedom from Lifelong Slavery

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Hebrews 2

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV

Growing up without God shaped how I saw life. I didn’t believe in any kind of higher power who was working behind the scenes. It was all up to me. I determined my own “destiny” so I better work hard and be good if I wanted to get ahead in love.

Not believing in God, also shaped how I saw death. My life was overshadowed by my fear of death. My last day on earth would be my last day. There was no afterlife, so I better be careful how I lived.

When I became a follower of Jesus Christ in April of 1994, my views of life and death began to change. I came to believe that God ruled over my life … and my death … and my life after death.

In the last week, two members of our local congregation passed away. One beginning his ninth decade of life and one beginning his second. I am so thankful for the hope of life on earth with Christ and the hope of eternal life in Heaven with Him as well. Do you have that hope or are you still in slavery to fear of death?

Heavenly Father, Thank You for the hope and peace that are mine because Jesus died in my place. I know that Jesus conquered death, and so will I. You are my hope in life and in death. Praise Your Name.

Christ our Hope in Life and Death
by Keith and Kristyn Getty

The Eternal, Unchanging God

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Read through the Bible: Hebrews 1

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

Hebrews 1:10-12 ESV

Heavenly Father, What a comfort it is to know that You are the unchanging God! Even things that seem unchanging – the sandy coastline, the rocky mountains, the sun, moon and stars – even these things change and wear out. But You, oh God, You remain the same. You never have to get better because You are already completely perfect. You will never wear out or grow old or get weary. I’m looking forward to eternity with You. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

The Year of Jubilee

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 25-27

“And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.”

Leviticus 25:10 ESV

My parents bought the house I was raised in when my sister was three and I was an infant. They sold it when I got married. I hadn’t been back to visit my hometown and the house of my childhood since my grandmother died 15 years ago.

Some of my neighbor’s homes had a fresh layer of paint and the state capital building’s dome had a fresh layer of gold leaf, but underneath not much had changed.

The skywalks connecting the downtown buildings still shielded pedestrians from the Iowa cold.

Huge piles of snow still rested in the corners of parking lots.

The familiar Arby’s sign still stood beside East 14th street.

It was good to go back and remember what things used to look like, because it helped me remember how much things in my life have changed since I grew up in that big old white house.

  • God has blessed me with four children on earth and two more in heaven.
  • I’ve lived in five different houses and three different states.
  • I’ve written books and recorded videos and shared the gospel with hundreds of people.
  • I’ve traveled to China and Hungary and Russia and Mexico.
  • My oldest two children have gotten married.
  • My first grandchild has been born, and a second is on the way.
  • And more important than any of these incredible things, God has given me Himself. He has saved me and transformed me from an evangelical atheist to an evangelical Christian.
50 years

This year I celebrated my own year of Jubilee. Fifty trips around the sun. But this Jubilee year has been hard for me in many ways. This year I was diagnosed with kyphosis and osteoporosis. I began seeing a physical therapist to help my posture, and I suffered my first broken bone – a stress fracture in my right foot. In fact, as I write this, my foot rests securely in a black boot almost up to my knee.

But this Jubilee year has also been so very good. I’m learning that secret of contentment – that Jesus is my strength and that I need to rest in Him. I’m learning to lean on Jesus – rather than trying to do it all on my own. I’m learning to be faithful. I’m learning that my worth is not in what I do, but in who I am and who I belong to.

Have you celebrated your year of Jubilee? Jubilee or not, what would you like to learn this year? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave me a comment.

Heavenly Father, A Jubilee is no celebration without You. Help us to fix our eyes on You, the author and perfector of our faith. Help us to remember who we used to be – so that we can have hearts of gratitude for all that You have done. Help us, though, to remember who You ALWAYS are. Your grace was always with us. You are always good and You are always kind and Your goodness is everlasting. All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been good. All my life I will sing of the mercies of God. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

King of my Heart / Goodness of God
by Caleb and Kelsey

Keep the Light Burning

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 24

Earlier this week my family decided to go see the Blue Angels practice. We got up early and headed out, only to get stuck in a crazy traffic jam unlike anything I’ve seen before. After moving a mile in an hour, we decided we needed to make another plan. We turned left, away from the Navy base, and motored to the Walmart parking lot where we joined a dozen other wanna-be air show watchers.

The air show was scheduled to begin at 10:30, and sure enough at 10:30 we saw a couple planes in the air, but it was nothing particularly earth-shattering. After about 20 minutes of this, out in the heat on an asphalt parking lot, several members of our family decided they’d rather go get a cold drink and a snack from inside Walmart than wait in the parking lot with their heads craned toward the skies.

Minutes after they disappeared inside, the magic began. The planes started flying every which way, roaring through the blue skies.

And they missed it.

Command the people of Israel
to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly….
Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the LORD regularly.
It shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations.

Leviticus 24:2-3 ESV

I’m not good at doing things regularly or forever. I like to make plans. I like to start new projects. I struggle at maintaining the commitment once the novelty wears off. That’s one reason why I’m trying so hard to write here every day until I’ve blogged through the Bible.

But, friends, God commands us to be faithful, to keep our lamps burning, evening to morning, day after day, forever. He wants us to pass on our faith to the generations coming after us.

Do we have our eyes fixed on the skies, waiting for His return, and our hearts rooted in His Word that it can be that light to our path and lamp to our feet which He promised for us?

Or are we so busy shopping for cold Cokes and salty chips that we miss the real show?

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”

Luke 12:35-36 ESV

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Matthew 25:1-13 ESV
Blue Angels over Walmart
Give Me Oil in My Lamp – Cedarmont Kids

Heavenly Father, You are always faithful. Always. You never change. You never grow tired or weak or weary. You never get bored and give up. You are the perfect example of steadfastness. Help us, Father, to be faithful like You. We can’t keep our lamps burning on our own. Give us the oil of Your Spirit and the living water of Your Word that we may be found faithful. And embolden us to share the good news with others, that they may enter the kingdom with us, to the praise of Your glorious might. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

A Sabbath Rest

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 23

“Six days shall work be done,
but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.
You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.”

Leviticus 23:3 ESV

When our children were little, my husband and I began to try to arrange our week such that Saturday became a day for house and yard work, while Sunday was set apart for fellowship and fun. Though it has been hard to be consistent, we saw the value of having a day for church and family and friends.

In the fall of 2021, after a prolonged interruption in regular in-person attendance (Thanks, COVID) our church started hosting a post-service meal and time for congregational sharing. I must admit that I initially complained about the extra work of preparing a dish to share, but this fellowship time has been such a huge blessing to our whole body.

To bring us to the present, our pastor recently shared a sermon series on the value of setting apart Sunday as a regular day for rest, renewal, and worship. He explained everything so much better than I can, so please listen for yourself. Here’s a link to the first sermon.

So, what a beautiful reminder here in Leviticus 23 of establishing a regular rhythm of both annual and weekly times for rest, worship, and fellowship.

Heavenly Father, Please help us to be faithful and diligent to work – and to rest – and to do it all in the name of Jesus Christ. We need them both. We need to work, and we need to rest. Help us to offer them both back to You. In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Profaning His Holy Name

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 21-22

And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God:
I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 22:32-33 ESV

Heavenly Father, I am Your child. You have called me by name and I belong to You. You have engraved Your name across my heart, and You have engraved my name in the palm of Your hand. You have brought me out of the land of darkness and slavery to sin, and You have brought me into the land of light and freedom in Your Holy Name. I pray that I will draw others to You by how I live and speak and love. I pray that others will see Your Holiness in me – not only in what I *don’t* do, but also in what I *do* do. I pray that I will love justice and practice kindness and walk humbly with my God. I pray that I will love my neighbor as myself. I pray that I will abstain from sin – from slander, lying, and sexual immorality. I’m a new creation in Christ. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Separate

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 19:19-20:27

The Israelites were to be a set apart people in Egypt and now they are to be a set apart people in Canaan. God pulled them out of a nation of idol-worshippers, and now He’s sending them into a new nation of idol-worshippers.

God has always been – and will always be – holy. It is His very nature. To be holy, by definition, means to be set apart.

From the beginning of creation God separated. He separated the light from the dark, the water above from the water below, the land from the sea, the day from the night. He made animals of different kinds and He designed the animals to reproduce after their own kinds.

From the beginning of the nation of Israel, God desires His people to be separated from the nations. And when God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle, He told Moses to hang a veil to separate the Most Holy Place where the priest would meet with Him. (Exodus 26:33)

Yet, mankind doesn’t like to be separate. We like to mix and mingle. We like to be part of the crowd. We like to fit in.

So God says,

You shall be holy to me,
for I the LORD am holy
and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine.

Leviticus 20:26 ESV

Heavenly Father, please give us the strength to be separate, to stand out from the crowd. Help us to remember that even when we feel alone, You are with us. Please place like-minded believers into our lives who can encourage us and hold up our arms when we feel weak. We especially pray for our children and other young people who have to learn to swim upstream in a current that wants to pull them down. Make us holy for You, our Creator and Father, are holy. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Genesis 1:4 ESV — And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:6 ESV — And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

Genesis 1:14 ESV — And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,”

Exodus 26:33 ESV — And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.

Love God. Love people.

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 17:1-19:18

Reading through chapter after chapter of unlawful practices and their consequences can feel irrelevant or confusing, but tucked square in the middle these chapters of Leviticus is this gem:

Love your neighbor as yourself:
I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18b ESV

What if we read all of Scripture through the lens Leviticus 19:18 – love your neighbor as yourself?

  • Make disciples of every nation. Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Don’t steal. Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Speak encouraging words. Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Don’t lie. Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Help the poor. Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Don’t commit adultery. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Do you love God ? Is He your Lord?

Then you will love the people that He made, the people He created in His image.

Heavenly Father, help me to love others the way that You have loved me. Help me to love others as much as I love myself. Help me to do good to others even when they hurt my feelings – because that’s how I want to be treated. Help me to speak the truth and speak it with love. I can’t do it on my own, Lord. Please do it through me. In the name of Jesus, my Lord, Amen.

The Day of Atonement

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 16

The Hebrew word “kaphar” (atonement) is used over a dozen times in Leviticus 16. According to Strong’s concordance, kâphar is “a primitive root (specifically with bitumen); figuratively, to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:—appease, make (an atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile(-liation).”

Kaphar means “to cover” like covered with pitch or covered with hair … Hence to cover one’s sins.

The first time it appears in the Bible is in Genesis 6:14, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

The Lord is going to appear in the Most Holy Place in a cloud over the Mercy Seat (verse 2) so Aaron and the priests who will follow after him must be covered – with a cloud of incense and with the blood of animals. The people, too, need to have a covering – an atonement – year after year “because of all their sins”. (Leviticus 16:34)

I was reminded of these New Testament passages about covering.

“Blessed are those
whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;”

Romans 4:7 ESV

“Above all,
keep loving one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4:8 ESV

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, We all need the blood of Jesus to cover our sins. I pray that when You look at me You see Jesus. I pray that You will see His life shining out of mine. My own good deeds are merely filthy rags, unable to cover my own sin. In my own flesh, I can never approach You, yet by the death of your son I have been made holy. I pray that You would use me to share this good news with others. I pray that I would love others earnestly – remembering that love covers a multitude of sins. In the name of Jesus, my atoning sacrifice, I pray. Amen