God does everything in order and in His perfect timing. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. our part is to listen and live lives that reflect our high Priest, Jesus Christ. In Him, in the New Covenant, we can come freely to the Throne of Grace and ask for wisdom and discernment.
We are the temple of the most high God. His Holy Spirit resides in us.
In His perfect timing Jesus was sent!
Mankind does not believe the truth of God and instead seeks to create its own. God guaranteed victory in Christ. He fights for believers but we do not believe Him.
James 1:13 (ESV) "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."
God is never the source of our temptation, as sin is contrary to His character. Instead, Satan, the evil one, tempts us from without, and James 1:14 tells us we are also tempted from within "by [our] own desire."
However, God doesn't want us to be separated from Him (Romans 8:38-39)! He created us to be in relationship with Him, not to satisfy self-seeking desires but to be image bearers who reflect His glory (Genesis 1:27-28). God brings forth life.
That's why He provided the only way of forgiveness and freedom from sin through Jesus. God knew we could never overcome sin on our own. But through faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, we are no longer separated from God; we are saved by His grace, and we will one day receive "the crown of life" (James 1:12) and be seated with Him in the heavenly realms. First5
And we all know the power of presence. In those times, when someone simply sat with us. To hold our hand. To listen, to care, to see us, to make space, to honor our dignity, and was not afraid of any messiness.
Yes, presence—not the impulse to find answers or to fix—makes space for connection and healing and restoration and grounding.
And to be honest, so much of what I wish for is the unmessy. Forgetting the wonderful power and gift of empowerment from simply stepping into the fray, to make a bond with skin in the game.
My confession is this: my need for control prevents me from seeing. And when that happens, I do not see. Or more accurately (to quote St. Benedict), I do not “Listen with the ear of my heart.”
Dawna Markova’s affirmation, “The practice of kindness is the daily, friendly, homely caring form of love. It is both humble—a schoolboy bringing his teacher a bouquet of dandelions—and exalted—a fireman giving his life to save someone else's. Kindness is love with hands and hearts and minds. It is both whimsical—causing our faces to crack into a smile—and deeply touching—causing our eyes to shimmer with tears. And its miraculous nature is such that the more acts of kindness we offer, the more of them we have to give, for acts of kindness are always drawn from the endless well of love.” Sabbath Moments
Acts 2:38 records the sermon of the apostle Peter. In it, he says, “Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven.”
We cherish pardon, don’t we? And God offers it. He does not give us what we deserve. He has drenched this world in grace. It has no end. It knows no limits. It empowers this life and enables us to live the next. God offers second chances, like a soup kitchen offers meals to everyone who asks. And that includes you. Make sure you receive his pardon. And once you do, pass it on. We all need it. Max Lucado
Ezekiel 40:44-46
44 Outside the inner gate were the chambers for the singers in the inner court, one facing south at the side of the northern gateway, and the other facing north at the side of the southern gateway. 45 Then he said to me, “This chamber which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple. 46 The chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok, from the sons of Levi, who come near the Lord to minister to Him.” The New King James Version
Zadok was high priest under David (2 Samuel 8:17), and his family dominated the priesthood until the exile. The legitimacy of the priesthood required continuity with the families that had been established by David and Solomon. Claims of Zadokite descent played a major part in conflicts over control of the priesthood during the Second Temple period (c. 516 bc—ad 70). Faithlife Study Bible
Those housed at the northern gate serve at the sacrificial altar. These sons of Zadok would be the only Levites permitted to serve God directly. The priests of the southern (inner) gate minister in the temple. The NKJV Study Bible
Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice, to whom we must look with faith in all approaches to God; and he is Salvation in the midst of the earth, Psalm 74:12, to be looked unto from all quarters. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Ezekiel 44:14–16 Nevertheless I will make them keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it. “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord GOD…
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