We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knows the plans He has for us and it is for our good. Although we may deviate from our path He will always turn us around.
We love others because God first loved us. His Love is an action word. Christ within us is the hope of His glory showing up in our lives.
We have a great high Priest who having purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Father and He rested. In His actions at the Cross it was finished. Because of Him we can come boldly to the throne of grace that we may attain mercy and find grace in any situation. Nothing in our lives is beyond His hand. Come to Him with faith believing in His power in all of our lives. We rest in the finished work of Christ. There was no person worthy but Jesus and He came and accomplished what we could not.
There is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ plus nothing. Grace is the unmerited and underserved gift of our loving God for His creation.
Without walking in another persons loss we cannot have empathy for what they are going through. Jesus who was tempted in all areas of life has compassion knowing we are mere humans.
Worry about nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving give your request to God and rest in His peace.
James drew on the ideas of spirit and body to further his argument about the connection between faith and works: "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead" (James 2:26). James drove home the difference between merely hearing God's Word and letting faith lead us to be doers of the Word. First5
The gift when someone sees me.
We live in a world burdened with uncertainty, anxiety and disquiet. So, it is no surprise that we can feel weighted down. And it is no surprise that we carry narratives that don’t allow us to see the gift that is too easily buried. The gift of our inherent beauty.
Our inherent beauty can be easily hidden. And this I know, when we hide our own beauty, we bury (literally, entomb) our courage (to be at home in our own skin).
And when we bury our courage, we disconnect from faith and hope and love.
But the burdens of life are not easy. I’m not suggesting that we haven’t (at times) felt cynical, bitter or tired. And yes, at times, we wonder if there is any reason to go on.
This is made all the thornier, if we see our imperfections (or whatever accompanying label or script) as an enemy (predicament or obstacle) to be overcome. Meaning, that we see only our shortcomings, and we do not see our beauty.
We do not see Grace.
We do not see Love.
Sabbath Moments
Ezekiel 41:44 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
Measuring the Future Ezekiel could be called one of the most visionary prophets. God showed him spiritual insights that still stir the imagination 25 centuries later. Like other prophets, Ezekiel’s ministry among his people had two distinct phases: condemnation and consolation. The first 32 chapters of Ezekiel catalog the sure and future judgment of God on His own people and seven other nations. Incredibly, although Jerusalem had been defeated and many of her people had been deported, the exiles clung to the vain hope that God would never let His city and temple be destroyed. They missed the point that God’s ultimate commitment was to people—not places or buildings. In order to purify and preserve the people, God allowed the devastation of the Promised Land and the temple itself. Yet God also held responsible those nations that used their temporary domination of Israel as an opportunity to mock the living God. Ezekiel’s early messages focused on the coming of God’s judgment and the urgent need for repentance. The last part of Ezekiel represents a sudden change of tone. With the fall of Jerusalem, God’s terrible judgment had finally come. The weary and disillusioned exiles had lost all hope. But God filled Ezekiel with a new message. Although all immediate evidence pointed to hopelessness and despair, God invited His people to return to Him and to place their confidence in Him. Whatever their temporary setbacks and suffering, God was still in control. His purposes would win out, and His plans were specific. In fact, His plans were so definite they could be measured. Ezekiel received a vision of the dimensions of a new temple (recorded in 40:1–48:35) to demonstrate that fact. Many efforts have been made to understand the details of Ezekiel’s vision in such a way that the prophecy might be described as fulfilled. However, attempts to do this have failed. Those who eventually returned from exile did not use Ezekiel’s plans to rebuild Jerusalem. It is also difficult to interpret this prophecy as a symbolic description of the church in our age. The most confident statement we can make about the vision and its accompanying instructions is that it is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. At the same time, we can apply these chapters to the present as examples of God’s planning, precision, and sovereignty. He maintains control of the events of history. When events seem chaotic, God reminds us to rest in His ability to bring order. Ezekiel’s vision of a new temple when the temple in Jerusalem had just been destroyed reassured the exiles: God would create beauty out of ashes. The people in Ezekiel’s day needed that vision of hope, and we still need it today. The NKJV Study Bible.
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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