Is this an election?

Before Jesus, the High Priest had to offer up sacrifices to blot out the continuous nature of our missing God’s goal. He also had to do this for himself since he missed God’s goal as well.

Jesus, God’s son, who never missed God’s goal for his life, offered up himself. God set him aside for this role. He is now our High Priest. We share in his new plan. It was the perfect plan, perfectly executed. Only Jesus could do it for us.

Jesus wasn’t elected to this position. God, His Father, appointed Him. No popular vote here. No democracy in God’s world. His decision and it was perfect. Thanks be to our magnificent Leader!!

No one elects himself to this honored position of High Priest. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did the Messiah presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:40-16

Related articles

• Jesus is Priest and King of all: none is excluded. (fsdm.org.uk)
• The High Priest of Melchizedek – hero for our times? (johndavies.typepad.com)
• The Blood and the Word!!! (ireport.cnn.com)

Can I help where help is needed?

I know sometimes I am trying to help with the wrong thing. I think I understand the problem but I have somehow missed the real issue. Jesus is able to help where the help is needed. Not missing the mark at all. He experienced it all himself and has gotten rid of our missing His goal for our life. He is our High Priest.

May I rest in the knowledge that He helps me where I need the help.

It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed. Hebrews 2:16-18

The promise of rest if we believe. Don’t exasperate God!

Relax, God is in control. I keep hearing that from our Father. He promised a rest. That is His goal for us. This rest requires that we have faith in Him.

If we believe that nothing is impossible for God, that he loves us and has a great plan for us, we can be “at rest”. His peace isn’t easily understood but it is real. His rest is like no other.

There is only one requirement. We must believe.

For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that God said, Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.” Hebrews 4:1-3

Sent to help out

I have to say that it hasn’t always been obvious to me that angels are here to help me. Lately it has been more obvious.  God knows what He is doing. Not everything is as it seems in this world. God’s hand is behind some activity that we cannot even fathom.

May it be more obvious to me all the time!!

Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation? Hebrews 1

Am I listening?

God is talking. Am I listening?

That, quite simply, is the main thing. It is easy to turn a deaf ear. It is easy to pretend that He didn’t say it. It is not about the easy path but it is about the path of sacrifice. We must take up His cross. There is no other way. The price must be paid.

And, having heard, will I believe what God wants to do and will do?

That, quite simply, is the main thing about the main thing. Nothing is impossible with Him. He will be faithful to His word. I must believe. I must lean in to Him.

For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren’t they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn’t it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? And when he swore that they’d never get where they were going, wasn’t he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? They never got there because they never listened, never believed. Hebrews 3:15-19

 May I listen and not turn a deaf ear. I can hear. May I believe.

Rock solid guarantee

There is the saying “As good as his word”. All God has to do to guarantee His promise to us to give us His word. When He says it, we can count on it. No ifs, ands or buts. It is done.

I can take it to the bank. He won’t break His promise to me. He is faithful so I can be faithful.

When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. Hebrews 6:18

 

“It is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening.” ~~Apostle Paul

Am I mature in God’s ways? Am I eating solid food? Can I teach others God’s what God is saying and doing today?

I can teach others if I cultivate the habit of listening to God. I can be of help if I learn from what I am hearing. Being able to distinuguish what is right is something I must practice. It doesn’t come easy but it produces growth for me and my family.

I want to be mature. May I listen and learn.

I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. Hebrews 5:11-14

Making it happen

I do need to give this more consideration. I ought to be thinking, “How do I spur my friends on to love?” What would I be doing different? How would that look? Am I helping them do good? 

May I make it happen. May I make it happen today.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews10:24

Am I confident enough to endure to get God's promise?

Many of our struggles about faith have to do with timing. We believe, at least in theory that God will keep His promises – but when?

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

Jesus was not in an election

Before Jesus, the High Priest had to offer up sacrifices to blot out the continuous nature of our missing God’s goal. He also had to do this for himself as well since he missed God’s goal as well. Jesus, God’s son, offered up himself, who never missed God’s goal for his life. God set him aside for this role. He is now our High Priest.  We share in his new plan. It was the perfect plan, perfectly executed. Only Jesus could do it for us.

Jesus wasn’t elected to this position. God, His Father, appointed Him. No populare vote here. No democracy in God’s world. His decision and it was perfect. Thanks be to our magnificent Leader!!

No one elects himself to this honored position of High Priest. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:40-16

Who is your hero?

Who is your hero? We ask that a lot. Who do we look up to?

Jesus should be the centerpiece of everything I do and think. God is the builder. Heros are the employees who do the work at the edges. Jesus is the architect of everything. He is in charge of all that God created and built. He was completely faithful and got done all that God gave Him to do.

So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful, but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a building any day. Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God. Moses did a good job in God’s house, but it was all servant work, getting things ready for what was to come. Christ as Son is in charge of the house. Hebrews 3:1-6

The long haul

The past is an interesting diversion. And a diversion it is. It can lead to an unnatural reliance on a reality that no longer exists in God. It can throw us off course. It can divert us from our God who is a TODAY God. He is, not was. If all we think about is what he did in the past, we are not in the relationship with Him for the long haul.

What is He saying today? What is He doing today?

So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no unnatural unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so missing God’s goal doesn’t slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul. These words keep ringing in our ears: Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising. Hebrews 3:12-14

May I hear God today and act on His desires. May I be with Him for the long haul.

No one is impervious to God's word

How many times have I said something, meaning it, and then did not follow through? Too many times for sure.

God is not that way. He means what He says. He follows through. He sees the real issue. He gets right to the heart of the matter. Our job is to listen and obey. There is no escape so we might as well believe and move ahead.

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what. Hebrews 4:12-13

May I experience the power of God’s word. May I trust Him and obey Him.

I want to be a son

I want to be a son. To be something else would be unthinkable. My earthly dad did discipline me. He had my long term best interest at heart. There were things he wanted me to learn and I didn’t always want to learn it. Not at the time anyway. I appreciate it now but it was sometimes painful then.

God is training me for my good. There are things He wants me to learn. Sometimes He needs to get my attention. I can be stubborn. No doubt about that. I do want righteousness and peace. It can be mine. I must be a son though.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:7-11 NIV 

Spiritual lifeline

We have run with our very lives to God. He is our spritual lifeline for sure. We have hope. So we see the lifeline He gives us and grab it with both hands. It is secure. We don’t let go.Why would we?

His spirtual lifeline is unbreakable. It reaches past this unreal world right to the very presence of God. That is where Jesus is who went ahead of us. He is there interceeding for us and giving us right standing. This is the new plan based God’s goal of complete redemption.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 10:18-20

How could we possibly understand?

Just a quick look at the space images on the NASA site and there is no doubt what a great God we have. He spoke and the stars were born. It really is more than a person can understand. What a awesome creation. And He put us in the middle of it. WOW!

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. Hebrews 11:3

My favorite part…

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all!

Romans 3:3-4

You know, this is my favorite part of all. It doesn’t matter if I am up or down. Happy or sad. Skeptical or Unquestioning. God is God and God is faithful.

He cares

There are some things that just aren’t possible with us. We can’t please God without faith. With faith, nothing is impossible. One aspect of faith that can be overlooked is that God cares enough to respond if we seek Him. If I know that He cares, I can believe and have faith.

May I know how much our heavenly Father cares for me. May I focus on believing that in my heart and soul.

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6 MSG (The Message)

Bold confidence

Whose way do I want to follow? Mine? God’s? It is a fundamental question. It needs to be asked and it needs to be answered. It is foundational to God’s world and His government.

I need a bold confidence. I want a firm grip on it. I don’t want to turn a deaf ear. I really, really don’t. Where will that get me? Not where He wants me to go.

I want His rest. I want to reach the end point. I want to sit down and rest. I want to cease from my own “doing” and enter His “doing”.

May I keep a firm grip on His bold confidence!!

Now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence, we’re the house! That’s why the Holy Spirit says, Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,” that time of wilderness testing! Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked, oh, so provoked! I said, “They’ll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road.” Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.” Hebrews 3:6-11