#God calls us to enter into His presence through “the new and living way” (Hebrews 10:19-25

[childofchrist1983]

A consuming fire is one that completely or utterly destroys. So why would a loving God also be called a consuming fire? It is a challenging question, but we must understand that God is holy – So holy that the unrighteous cannot be in His presence. This consuming fire destroys anything unholy.

Sin makes us unable to approach God fully and unable to enter His Kingdom of Heaven. It is only through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that we find forgiveness and salvation as well as granted entry through Heaven's gates when our time comes. Through His mercy and grace, we are redeemed and spiritually reborn and able to stand reverently before Him. And He is good to show us favor. May we always remember Him and His almighty power and worship Him with great rejoicing and humility. God is holy and almighty and deserving of all praise honor and glory. We rejoice in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ, knowing He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8). May our hearts always be filled with thanksgiving and rejoicing. May He help us to praise Him freely and honestly like all believers who came before us. May we live a life that showcases our love and trust in Him and His Holy Word and Spirit as He uses us draw others to Him and His soul-saving Gospel Truth daily. May He continue guide, correct and protect us, so that we continue to grow in Him and not weaken and stray. May we all remain faithful to Him and to this duty and purpose He has called us to. Seek and put your faith and trust in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ and let Him do the rest. May He humble our hearts and help us focus on following and serving Him daily and helping others with joy and happiness. We lift our voices in praise to Him for His love, mercy, peace, faithfulness and grace. - For EVERYTHING!

It is vital that we remain rooted in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit and that we live and walk as a beacon of His light and love and share and spread the Gospel Truth daily, so that the lost souls in this world can come to know Him and be saved. The more we focus on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ, growing spiritually by building our relationship with Him, leaning on Him and His Holy Word and Spirit, the better off we will be. Thanks to this and our faith in Him, we know that everything will be alright. And we will forever be grateful to Him. As true and born-again Christians, we believe in Him and His Holy Word and we strive daily to walk in His Holy Spirit. We know though our mortal bodies should die, He will raise us up and into new and glorious bodies (The Rapture). We who are truly His and alive at His second coming will never die, and our bodies will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and so shall we ever be with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven forevermore (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is one of many promises given to us by God Himself. Thank God for His strength and guidance when we are faced with sin and temptation. Thank Him for His mercy and grace. Through Bible study and prayer, God reveals His wisdom and guides us to see opportunities to grow closer to Him and grow spiritually. He gives us direction to live our lives daily according to His will.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven (John 3:5, 14:6), the ONLY way to salvation (Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9) and He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). Jesus Christ the LORD of lords, KING of kings, the GOD of gods (Deuteronomy 10:17, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16) - He is the Living, Almighty and Everlasting God (Isaiah 9:6, Revelation 1:8, John 3:16, John 3:36, Jeremiah 10:10). There is no other God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5). We MUST humble ourselves before Him, turning our backs on false teachers, false gods and idols and our sinful ways. We MUST repent and turn back to God and recognize who He is and love Him in return for His great love for us. We MUST make God top priority everyday! May we be motivated to spread God's Holy Word and Gospel Truth to all the Earth, knowing that it is the only hope of all those lost in their sins. Let us not hold out a false hope for men to be saved without the Gospel, but instead, strive to do our part to get the Gospel out to a lost and dying world.

Leaning on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit strengthens us and our knowledge and wisdom about God and His Gospel Truth, exposing these imposters. May God help us to seek and lean on Him daily to gain the strength, wisdom and spiritual discernment needed to expose Satan and his imposters who seek to destroy us and God's ultimate Truth. Everyday, we must remember to share Jesus Christ's Gospel Truth with the world and to thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for the grace that He poured out for us on the cross at Calvary. He has freed us from the burdens of sin and from the eternal damnation of Hell. In all we say and do, may all praise, honor and glory always be given to Him and His Kingdom of Heaven.

With renewed minds, hearts and wills, let us serve Him humbly and faithfully out of pure love and grateful rejoicing. May He remind us of His presence and to remain at peace, fully knowing that all will be well because He is always with us. Let us seek Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ today and everyday with all our heart and being, looking for His love, light and will for our lives with each step we take. Let us seek to please Him with our thoughts, words, and deeds and seek to advance His Kingdom of Heaven and His glory with our lives. Let us seek Him from a pure and humble heart, and when we so seek, we believe Him and His promise that we will find. May He help us all to be more sensitive to the teaching ministry of His Holy Word and Spirit, relying on Him and allowing Him to speak to us and guide us every step of our Christian journey.

God gave us the Holy Bible - His living and Holy Word - to let us know of Him and His abiding love and care as well as guide and prepare us for all our lives. May He help us encourage one another as we continue our walk with Him and our duty to Him daily. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for being present for all our new beginnings and all our lives. May He redirect any anxiety we feel as He provides countless opportunities for growth and change. May we humble ourselves before God always, asking Him to forgive our sins and make our hearts and lives anew through His Holy Word and Spirit. May He help us make Him and His Holy Word top priority, so we can grow spiritually and grow in our relationship with Him as we apply it to our daily lives. Thank God that we can focus on Him and everything about Him, for that is what keeps us sane and at peace. May our words and actions always be a reflection of Him and His Holy Word and Spirit and will.

May He help us to always walk in His grace and Holy Spirit, not by our own measure. May He give us the humble humility to know that our freedom and eternal salvation is found only in Him, so that His grace may sustain us, and we may never lose sight of His love and light and mercy. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for calling us to Him and to serve Him. May He equip us to do all that He has called us to do so that as He works through us, He may use us to produce fruit, to reach others, and to encourage all brothers and sisters in Christ. May He work all of these things in us and through us for His Kingdom and His glory. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all His creation, for His miraculous ways and for everything He does and has done for us! Keep the faith and keep moving forward in your walk with Jesus! He loves us and He knows what is best for us. Seek, follow and trust in Him - Always!

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Word and for sending His Holy Spirit so that we might have His grace, not only to awaken us and transform our hearts in our spiritual rebirth and guarantee our eternity with Him, but to also call upon Him whenever we are in need. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all the reminders of His love and mercy and faithfulness within His Holy Word. He is bigger than any challenge or circumstance in our lives. Knowing this within our minds and our hearts, nothing can deter our faith in Him and His Truth. May we all accept Him and His eternal gift of salvation and ask that He would transform our hearts and lives according to His will and ways. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Spirit who saves, seals and leads us. May we always thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His almighty power and saving grace. For He is our strength, and He alone is able to save us, forgive our sins and gift us eternal salvation and entry into His Kingdom of Heaven.

May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world daily. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Holy Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful LORD, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

[albertfinch]

REVIVAL BEGINS WITHIN

2 Corinthians 3:18 - "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

Knowing that we are to seek first His Kingdom, we enter His presence with joy and the expectation of bearing fruit that remains for His Kingdom through our Christ calling. .We are ready for God to move us out of the confines and limitations of what we have experienced in the past.

We cultivate, nurture, and disciple new believers in their Christ identity -- thereby living the crucified lifestyle inside the Word.

We let the cross consume us, we let the the Word transform us, and we let His freedom transfuse us through the blood of the cross.  He answers our prayers with the Refiner’s fire, allowing the dross and chaff (the rationalizations and justifications that have kept us limited in the fowler's snare of "self") to be burned up.

Let's pray that:

[1] We will receive the love of Jesus in our heart allowing it to flow into the lives of others. (Matthew 22:37)

[2] We will put the love of Christ into action by discipling others into a higher life in Christ. (Matthew 22:39)

[3] Holy Spirit will come upon us in power so that we might die to ourselves in a greater way and be more gloriously alive in Christ! (Acts 1:8)

[4] We will embrace the discipline of the Lord and lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangle us. We will run with endurance the race set before us – God’s purpose for our life. (Hebrews 12:1 and 12:10)

[5] We will cry out for the fire of God to burn up all the dross and chaff in us, refining us again and again until there is nothing of our old dead nature and we are fully alive in His righteousness! (Malachi 3:3)

[6] We will know the height, length, breadth, and depth of His love. And we will make it known everywhere we are because we are filled up with the fullness of God! (Ephesians 3:18-19)

[7] We will present ourselves to God as living sacrifices that are instruments of His righteousness! (Romans 6:12-13)

[8] We will embrace the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to baptize us anew and take us from glory to glory in His calling on our life, transforming us into greater and greater expressions of Jesus! (2 Corinthians 3:18)

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[bond-servant-of-christ-jesus]

1 John 1:6-10

[6]If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

[7]but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

[8]If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[9]If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[10]If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Hebrews 9:11-28

[11]But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;

[12]and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

[13]For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,

[14]how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

[15]For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

[16]For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.

[17]For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.

[18]Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood.

[19]For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

[20]saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you."

[21]And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.

[22]And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

[23]Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

[24]For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

[25]nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.

[26]Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

[27]And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

[28]so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

John 14:6

[6]Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

[dailyaudiobible]

11/12/2023 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 24:1-26:21, Hebrews 11:1-16, Psalm 110:1-7, Proverbs 27:14

Today is the 12th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian, it’s great to be here with you today and every day. Of course, here we are at the sparkly shiny threshold of a brand-new week. Looking at the week, we will continue to journey our way through the book of Ezekiel. And in the New Testament, we will conclude this week, the book of Hebrews, and move forward into James. And we will read from the Common English Bible this week. So, let's dive in, Ezekiel chapter 24 verse 1, through 26 verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay, in our reading from Psalms today, we read Psalm 110, which refers to Melchizedek. One of the two only references to Melchizedek in the Old Testament, and we talked about that at length, when we began the book of Hebrews. So, I'm just pointing that out.

In the book of Hebrews, we turn the corner and begin to move into the next piece of what is being laid out in Hebrews. So, since we began Hebrews, we’ve been examining from a Hebrew context, a Jewish context, the sacrificial system, the way to get to God, and to be absolved of sin. And the writer of Hebrews is saying that in Jesus death, that system is completed, and is no longer necessary. We now have a high priest in heaven, a new covenant has been instituted, we can now ourselves go into the holy of holies. So, in other words, we can now ourselves as individuals stand clean and righteous before God and enter His presence ourselves. And we’ve talked about what a monumental paradigm shift that was for the Hebrews that this was written to. Today, we begin to talk about what enables all of that. The reality that we have to enter and live from within, in order for this to become true, and that reality is called faith. So, as we turn the corner and begin Hebrews chapter 11, we’re greeted with that, faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don't see. And then we spent the rest of our time in Hebrews today seeing examples of this from the Scriptures. And we started at the beginning and began to work our way forward. And we will continue with those examples as we read forward, as we go forward tomorrow. Some scholars call this the hall of faith, that the hall of faith in the Bible because it's example, after example of people who lived by faith in order to move into a reality that would otherwise be impossible. And we should enjoy this because it's kind of a fast motion move through a number of the stories that we've encountered as we’ve move through the Bible this year. But it also shows us this common thread, faith is a necessary part of our humanity, of our journey, and certainly is the rocket fuel of our relationship with God. So, we should enjoy ourselves as we move through these examples. But then Hebrews will lead us to a place where we realize okay, the examples are wonderful, but I can't move into this on someone else's faith, it's going to come down to some choices and decisions that I have to make. And we’ll get to that over the next couple of days.

Prayer:

And so, Father, the Scriptures tell us that it's impossible to please You without faith, and so now, as we begin to explore faith from the book of Hebrews, we invite Your Holy Spirit to strengthen and increase our faith in You, as we look at these examples of people who had faith against all odds, faith in a reality that they could not see, faith in You and You alone. Come Holy Spirit and make this a reality in our lives. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you, profoundly and humbly for your partnership. If you prefer the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today, I'm Brian, I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

DAB family, it’s KC the Single-Minded Plumber. I love you guys. It's another beautiful sunny day in sunny aloha. I hope all you guys are having and awesome day and enjoying yourselves. Bless all of you. I wanted to call in, in particular to thank a few people in the DAB community. I know we have some law enforcement officers in our community. And it’s inspiring, law enforcement officers. I want to thank you, specifically. I grew up with a single mother on welfare in the poorest neighborhoods we could find. And a lot of my father figures were law enforcement officers. Anybody, any male figures in my family were on drugs or selling drugs. So, law enforcement officers made a big difference in my life. They taught me right from wrong. They let me know when I was doing something wrong. They brought me home and kept me safe a lot of nights. So, you never know when you’re in the community, what a difference and what an impact you make on…on the people you meet. God bless you guys. Thank you for doing what you do. You’re appreciated, you really are. Even if the people who you’re helping, don’t show it at the time, and I didn’t. But a lot of the law enforcement officers I knew when I was a child, still wonder how I’m doing. And reach out to me and hope I’m doing okay. So, I just want to say, I love you. God bless you. Bless your families. Bless everything you do. Byyyyeee

Hey fam, it’s Spark. I wanted to call. I was listening to community prayer. And I heard a call from Joe. Hey dude, I’m so glad that you’re on here. You were talking about your struggles, childhood and things like that. And how you can be bitter about that. But I’m gonna tell you right now, that’s okay. You’re seeing things that happened that changed your mind. And it’s different to listen to Proverbs, hard to listen to it sometimes. But I want to tell you dude, I want to urge you to get where I was. So, when I started listening to this, I was just so exhausted. I was exhausted with being frustrated, angry, down. Man, I’ve…I’ve had some upside downs in my life. I always tell you that. You know, where you’re left on your backside and can’t really make sense of all of it. And keep digging right now. And there’s gonna be a point, when you say you have trouble listening, I will tell you what God is, God is taking you right now, and He’s putting you in this situation, not to listen to His word out of fear or out of shame of things that have happened to you. Right now, He’s looking at you and telling you, you can be brand new. And here is my promise. And when that clicked, where I realized that everything that had beat the fire out of me. I didn’t have to take it anymore. This is a promise you’re listening to. And this is God telling you how much He loves you. And I started reading it like a nerd. I love you dude. Hang in there.

Hey DAB family, it’s Abba’s Daughter Sadie M. I’m listening to today’s reading, November 7th. And James from Nebraska, I think I got your moniker right, your wife Mary, you found on the floor after a couple hours of probably being unconscious after a fall. And I just, I wanna take her to the throne. You said it’s not looking good. And I just wanna take her to our Jehovah Raffa, our healer. I believe that He can heal. That’s what it takes for miracles to happen is belief and faith in our mighty God. So, let’s go to the throne for Mary. Abba Father, we come before You today in awe of Your power. We come before You today in awe of all the things You have done, miracle, miracle, miracle. Both in a time when Jesus was on earth, among us and even beyond that time. Lord, You have done so many miracles for so many. And so, we ask today that You would heal Mary. That You would heal her in such a way that the only way she would recognize it is You, Lord. That this healing would bring her to You, Lord, and Lord, when she comes to You, I know she will be welcomed with open arms in the most grand celebration in heaven. So, Lord, we ask for this miracle and this healing. And this coming to You Lord, we just pray and know that You can do it. We believe in the miracle, Lord. So, Abba Father, Jehovah Raffa have Your way with Mary and bless James with patience, kindness and gentleness as they work together in Mary’s healing. In your precious name. Amen. Abba’s Daughter Sadie M, bye for now.

Hello DABers, this is K from Ohio. I want to pray for Kyle from Pennsylvania. Praying for his daughter Rylee who’s 3 years old. Sir, this prayer request touched my heart so dearly. I have two children and I work with three-, four- and five-year-olds and it just, God knows the children touch my heart, and the pull and they tug until they can’t tug anymore. So, God I ask You, You heard my prayer before I even got on this call. We speak encouragement to the parent’s heart, that they will remember that You are the true living God. That You are Jehovah Raffa, besides You there is none other. There’s nothing that You can’t do. There’s nothing that’s too hard. God, I’m asking that You’d be right there and holding Rylee’s hand. Hold the parent’s hand, wrap them up in Your loving arms. And let them not feel that fear that tries to grip them and twist their hearts and they can’t talk, and they can’t breathe. They know how great You are, and they know You’re a healer and that You’re faithful. But it’s their child, God. Give them strength to stand on Your word and trust You beyond all understanding. And when no one else is sure, they are sure that You are the true and living God and that You’re holy and divine will, will be done. In the name of Jesus. Thank You for being faithful God. Do Your best for them. We’re looking for a miracle. It’s in Your son, Jesus name we pray. We count it all done. Amen.

[yhwhrulz]

Wayside Chapel Daily Devotional 1st September 2023

September 1

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

Paul claims to have received this tradition from the Lord Himself. It is the key passage that we refer to when we have communion. We find that the Gospels tell us the same thing. We are to remember the Lord's death for us on a regular basis. The bread is to remind us of His body that was broken for us. The cup is to remind us we have entered into the new covenant.

The author of Hebrews tells us that the body of Christ is the veil that was torn to allow us access to the Holy of Holies in heaven (Hebrews 10:19-22). Because Jesus died in our place, we have access to God. When we take the bread of communion, we remember the great price that was paid and the privileges we now have because of it. It also reminds us that we are the body of Christ. Though we are many different parts, we are a part of the whole. In this passage Paul warns them to be considerate of one another at communion to be sure all can participate. Some were sick and even died because they were taking it lightly and without consideration of other members of the body. He warned us to examine ourselves first.

The cup is representative of the blood of the new covenant. Believers are not under the old covenant of law, but the new covenant of grace. The old was based on our obedience, but the new is based on what Christ has done. The new covenant was predicted to include the very presence of the Spirit of God within us. Covenants were ratified by blood and often by a wound in the hand of the participants. The new covenant is dependent on only one party keeping the terms and so the wound is on His hands alone. Communion calls us to consider these things, but most of all it calls us to remember He gave His life that we might truly live in Him.

Remember: The next time you participate in communion, remember His body was broken for you. Remember the new covenant made with His blood.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Redemption through His Blood

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties. But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper. They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.

That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him. — Hebrews 9 | The Reader’s Bible (BRB) The Reader’s Bible © 2020 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Genesis 3:19; Exodus 16:32-33; Exodus 24:6-7 and 8; Exodus 25:8-9; Exodus 25:23; Exodus 26:31; Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 4:3; Leviticus 5:11; Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 11:2; Leviticus 14:4; Leviticus 16:2; Leviticus 16:14-15; Numbers 7:33; Numbers 18:2; Psalm 103:12; Jeremiah 33:8; Ezekiel 45:18; Matthew 18:10; Matthew 22:3; Matthew 26:28; Luke 1:80; Acts 23:15; Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 10:19

[fairfieldthinkspace]

Ignatian Spiritual Exercises at Fairfield University

Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, S.J.

Fairfield University

                       On January 1st, 2014, I joined the Jesuit Community at Fairfield University.  I was 77 years old.  I had been Superior/Director of the Jesuit Center in Amman, Jordan, for 14 years, and the Superior/Director of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, for 10 years.  These long years in the Middle East in the center of the Arab/Israeli conflict proved in an ironic way to be personally and professionally a significant preparation for what I was to do at Fairfield University. In the extended exposure to the extreme, tragic, human pain of the Middle East, I lived with a constant sense of inadequacy and helplessness; I failed in Arabic and Hebrew; I lost my theology.

Upon my return from the Middle East to the United States my Provincial Superior asked what I wanted to do.  I responded I was too exhausted - depleted – to answer specifically, but I had the inspiration to say I know what I do not want to do: I do not want to be in charge of anything anymore, and then the particular grace - I just want to talk about God.

I joined the Fairfield Jesuit Community with the intention that maybe I could help out in spiritual direction or other pastoral endeavors for the community. I came with no official connection with the university, no paying job.  I had the freedom to discover what I possibly could do, what I would like to do, where I could be a help. I was free of institutional and bureaucratic strictures. Guiding people in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises captured my attention.

I began to look the place over, identify people who might possibly be interested in the doing the spiritual exercises. I wandered around the university and began literally to knock on people’s doors.  I had no plan – just search out and relate to members of the university community.

One of the first persons I spoke with was the Vice President of Student Affairs.  After several conversations he decided to accept my invitation to walk with him through the full Ignatian Exercises. That the exercises went so well for this vice president and that he talked with others about it, the door was opened to other administrators:  top university administration, vice presidents, deans; eventually it bled over to members of the board of trustees.

I highlight in the success I experienced several factors:  my health, my spiritual journey, my method in attracting individuals. I end with several developing programs.

HEALTH

Upon returning from the Middle East in the fall of 2007, I was burnt out more than I wanted to admit.  I was granted sabbatical time to pray and think in peace and quiet. I for a good period of my life had been aware of the over consumption of our culture, but now returning from long exposure to extreme poverty I was now much more confronted by excessive consumption. But, in fact, I must confess I had long been an over-consumer myself. In the Middle East I payed little attention to my health – I ate and drank merrily.  In this phase change from the Middle East, looking ahead into the now elderly and uncertain period of my life, I took a radical step and became a teetotaler and vegan – overnight. In becoming a non-drinking vegan the biggest difficulty was social: people close to me thought I was crazy. They changed when after a year and a half I lost 125 pounds.

The motivation of the radical change was multi layered. The state of my health was the immediate stimulus, but because of my long years in the Middle East, the motivation went deeper. I had been exposed to hungry people in the world – people who spend most of their time and energy seeking food. (In Amman, Jordan, I had a good friend, Sr. Annie, whose full time occupation was  helping people obtain food. All donations I received for the poor I passed on to Sr. Annie for her continual quest for food for the poor). Now back in the States, I was confronted with the irony that in our over consumptive world many of us spend energy keeping food away.  I, then, in becoming a vegan and non-drinker, in keeping food away, interiorly in the presence of God consciously identified with the poor. To be sure, the poor do not get what I deny but the gesture is humanly very significant for me. People sponsor running events for various reasons – running for cancer, for example, or gay rights. I was not drinking, not eating for the poor. This motivation deepened the reason for the restriction of consumption. Another insight was very helpful in staying with the discipline necessary for this new regime: the continuing mindfulness that in table fellowship people are more important than the food.

This change in consumption and the discipline necessary to maintain it was to become a very important factor in the flourishing of my spiritual life and apostolic work at Fairfield University.

SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

In the long years in the Middle East I did accomplish some degree of creativity; I founded the Jesuit Center in Amman, Jordan, assisting the local church in a number of ways.  And then in Jerusalem, as director of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, I was responsible for the members of the Jesuit Community and 25 international students each year in their quest for higher degrees in biblical studies.  I had close ties with Bethlehem University and Hebrew University. (At Bethlehem University I founded the Cardinal Martini Leadership Institute.) The struggle in doing ordinary daily work was within the larger social, economic, religious turmoil of the Arab/Israeli conflict which weighed heavily upon my heart, and was the on-going challenge for my faith journey. But that extreme human tragedy – with its pain – has happened to be a significant grace for my success at Fairfield University.

The only way I could have not only survived in the Middle East, but also attained some creativity, was through the depth of my journey with God. I know myself as having been graced by God over my whole life. It was the very movement of God that I went to the Middle East in the first place – at 50 years of age. God was nudging me to do something radically different in my service of him and his people – so I went off and immersed myself in the Arab world.

As a result of becoming a tee totaling vegan, I began to experience a pervading sense of ‘integration.’ In my life journey with God I now sensed an overarching grace – let’s call it – evenness with God. God had been always there in the darkness, the pain, the joys. But I do not know of any phase in my life when I felt more integrated – mind, spirit, heart, body – than in this elderly phase. Sparked by the radical change in consumption, I grew especially in a deep sense of harmony between body and spirit. I have in recent times, to the amusement of people, described myself as “this rather old, somewhat well put together, happy, sexually alive celibate.” Now, if there is any doubt, I stress very explicitly and strongly that the change in consumption and the sense of integration are most significantly founded in the on-going breaking through of God in my whole person.

So, I arrived at Fairfield University at 77 years of age to do what I could in leading people through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. I describe my spiritual journey and interior state because if anyone wants to know how the success could be repeated the spiritual aspect is the most important and that perhaps is not able to be institutionalized.

I had lost my theology in the Middle East—well, in fact, I had been losing it over decades prior to the immersion in the Middle East. I had been changing profoundly in a way of thinking about myself, the church, the world for a very long time. The Middle East put a cap on that. In the extremes of the Middle East it became easier for me to realize and accept that the symbolic world I had constructed out of my education did not help in meeting the realities of life for me and others today. There may be a helpful analogy from married life. A couple over years may be living out their lives with a verbal description of their relationship that has become a façade. And they maintain that inadequate image of themselves and project that to others. But then because of some very great trauma (perhaps the death of a child) the relationship may easily fall apart; their symbolic representation of their marriage is too weak adequately to include the experienced tragedy. The erosion of my symbolic universe – my theology – was significantly quickened by the tragedy of the Middle East.      

Significant with the loss of a theology is the loss of an institution – the specific institutional form that was kept afloat by a specific theology. Notice, however, the loss of a theology is not the loss of faith – and the loss of the institution is not the loss of the church.

Therefore, out of a long spiritual journey, I arrived at Fairfield University in 2014, characterized by a spirit of joy, peace, a sense of integration, wanting to communicate with people, in an open honest way, the full sweep of belief in Jesus, putting together in an authentic freshness a joyful talk about God in the midst of over consumption and deteriorating institutions. That is how I describe most significantly my success in leading many trustees, administrators, staff and faculty in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

 GATHERING RETREATANTS

On the practical level, one factor in the success has been particularly important, and that is that I have personally invited people into the exercises. I knocked on doors, had brief, passing conversations at various socials, and asked about people.  Sometimes the process of personal interaction took several years before the individual entered into the exercises.  With some I engaged in spiritual conversation without doing the exercises formally. Some requested to begin the exercises after one conversation.  In one instance a person said, “At last you have come.”

Someone asked me once if all these people entering into the spiritual exercises were prepared. I said ‘No!’ I don’t know who is prepared.  When I did the spiritual exercises at 18 years of age upon becoming a Jesuit in 1955, I was not prepared.  That month was the darkest period in my whole life journey with God.  The exercises are very flexible because people are unique; the journey is unique for every individual; the relationship with God is unique. There is no absolute template for everybody. When I did the exercises as a very young Jesuit in a group of about 30 other young Jesuits, we were preached to about four times a day. There was the assumption that the result would be the same for all. That method of doing the exercises imaged the strength of the authoritarian institutional form of the Catholic Church at that time. That overpowering authoritarian, institutional method of doing the exercises was to collapse in about fifteen years, with the return to the original method of guiding people on a one to one basis.

I have wondered in guiding a few people whether I was actually guiding them through the Ignatian Exercises. Whatever, these retreatants did find God and lives were significantly changed. With some it did not matter if I called the process the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises or some other strain of mainline Christian spirituality.

After about two years of engagement in walking with many in the exercises, the Executive Vice President, Kevin Lawlor, who himself had done the exercises, informed me that I should be paid for what I was doing. I had along the way dropped some hints in this regard. I was giving more time and energy than for a full time job. So when I was 80 years of age the Executive Vice President created a special position for me. He said that the President and he were creating this job so I could continue to do what I was doing. What a dream job description:  just do what you do!

CHALLENGES

After I began searching out possible candidates with concentration on administrators, issues quickly arose; for one, boundaries. I had no formal training as a spiritual director – a guide in the full Ignatian Exercises. In the early 1980s when I was Assistant Rector at Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, I engaged in much spiritual direction and retreat guidance for Jesuits preparing for ordination – I was learning on the job. As a part of my job I was coordinator of those priests on the faculty who were spiritual directors for the scholastics. We met monthly for conversations stimulated by cases I composed.

In 2014, at the beginning of my engagement in leading administrators in the spiritual exercises at Fairfield, I had a sense of how I should relate with them – keep my personal distance. I had this shadowy image that in the usual state of affairs people would go to retreat houses for retreats, after which they would never, or rarely, meet again with their guide.  So I felt it appropriate after finishing guiding individual through the exercises at Fairfield University to keep my distance. But the people I was guiding did not go away after the exercises. We worked in the same community. After finishing the exercises people found it normal to continue relating with me in different ways. Continuing on in spiritual direction was fine, but then the challenge for me arose when relationships began to diversify.

The story that best exemplifies this issue arose in my relationship with the Executive Vice President. He had created the paying position for me in the university. For a few curious reasons I then reported to him.  Soon after that he mentioned I was on his staff and he wanted me to attend his staff meetings. This was a surprise and I did not know if this was appropriate because of my relationship with him and the number of vice presidents on his staff whom I also had guided in the spiritual exercises. Would they be content to have me attend meetings on the running of the university when I knew them so very personally from walking with them in the spiritual exercises?

Well, I did begin to attend the staff meetings of the Executive Vice President. A bit uneasy about the very first meeting, I planned to arrive just a few seconds before it began; the participants did not know I would be joining them. Once I entered the room I knew immediately this would go well. The expressions on the faces of the Executive Vice President’s staff were of welcoming and joyful surprise. I have attended more than 60 meetings over the last 4 years, and have lead off each meeting with a prayerful reflection.

In dealing with this issue of diversification and complexity of relationships, reflections on Ignatius and the other founders of the Society of Jesus helped.  Ignatius invited his student friends to do the spiritual exercises. They eventually did not only relate as retreatant to director of the exercises, but they stayed together as friends, companions. They continued and developed an on-going spiritual and working relationship out of which eventually emerged the Society of Jesus. In the Society of Jesus in the present era a particular position has served me well in describing relationships I enjoy with many who have done the spiritual exercises at Fairfield University: Formation Director. In becoming a companion with those I have walked with through the spiritual exercises, I am a sympathetic listener on all levels of human life. I am a personal and professional coach. I am a friend. In all these relationships consciousness of the presence of God is explicit, or just a smidgeon below the surface. Diversification of relationships is a continuing process of discernment.

A further thought has been helpful in reflecting about diversification of relationships. Culturally there is strong pressure to privatize religion. Business is here and religion is over there. So, in the board room, religion and spirituality would have very little, or no, place. With my presence and participation at staff meetings, business and belief are more integrated. There are boundaries worth breaking down if we define ourselves as a Catholic, Jesuit University.

Again another reflection of the positive aspect of my relationship on campus in a diversified way with those who have done the spiritual exercises, is that in our contemporary business world there is easily the feeling among employees that nobody really knows me here. The atmosphere of corporations and universities is easily one of anonymity. With the numbers of people I have walked with I enjoy an immediate and joyful human and even deep relationship in whatever circumstance I engage with them. We have become companions in a common endeavor.

 DEVELOPING PROGRAMS

As the number of administrators and trustees doing the exercises began to increase - now at 47 - I grew in awareness of the significance of forming a community of those who have done the exercises. The Ignatian exercises were meant as an individual experience, an experience for the person to become as humanly conscious as possible of how God is present and of how they are present to God at this moment in his/her life. What is the communal message here? How does a community take shape out of this common experience? Again the experience of the early Jesuits is helpful. The founding Jesuits stayed together, they discerned out of their common spiritual experience, they founded the Society of Jesus.

As the importance of the communal aspect grew on me, I created a program to cultivate that: regular seminar luncheons for those who have done the exercises on prayerful/reflective discussions of the gospels. The lunches are funded by the President. The purpose of this seminar is to continue prayerful reflection on the gospels, but also in doing it communally to forge a community of administrators, faculty, staff, by hearing one another pray and reflect on their belief. As the first Jesuits stayed together and founded the Society of Jesus, so – I have joked – those of us at Fairfield University who have done the spiritual exercises, perhaps could found a contemporary religious order. This is not going to happen. But the example of what the first Jesuits created out of their common spiritual experience could be an inspiration and encouragement for us to consider what we could create communally in enunciating and living out the meaning of Fairfield University in the contemporary world. And this would be much larger and have far greater power than what we could do individually.

Discernment will continue at Fairfield University about diverse possibilities of integrating Ignatian Spirituality with all various aspects of university life.

[raz-b-rose]

Hey so,, the Bible states that Eating burgers is a sin Women speaking in church is a sin Wearing blended fabric is a sin Eating SHRIMP is talked about more in the Bible as a sin than homisexuality is Women wearing pants is a sin Writing in your Bible or defacing it in any way is a sin Do some research on your own religion if you're going to preach it

Thank you for asking, I love this opportunity to help bring understanding to commands such as these. Thank you for your patience, lets get to it. 

I can understand the overwhelming presence that is Gods word. Its a big book full of a lot of things that take a lot of cross referencing on occasion. After all, it is just one continuous story of God who was and is and always will be. 

Warning, there's a lot.

Anyway there is a simple answer to all of those and it starts all the way back at Abraham. Some quick condensed history. God chose Abraham to establish the Hebrew/Jewish people. He faithfully followed Gods commands, and Isaac was born from his faithfulness and for Gods promise. A promise that Abraham’s offspring would cover the earth. 

Isaac then had Esau and Jacob. Jacob then had 12 sons, Joseph the youngest was used to bring the Israelite people to Egypt. Where the Egyptians turned them into slaves. 

Now enter Moses. God used this man to bring them out of Egypt and towards the promise land. This is where God starts to establish what would set his chosen people apart from the rest of the world. The old laws were there for their faithful obedience and for outsiders to know “thats an Israelite”. 

The entirety of the OT speaks of Gods character, plans for salvation, and absolute authority. The laws are a reflection of that as well. 

so now we have the group of laws God had Moses establish.

Now Jesus fulfilled the OT law. 

Matthew 5:17-20 (Jesus speaking)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least vin the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great vin the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Part of that fulfillment was the laws on food. Food was used to represent Holiness/ cleanliness. Everything about them had to be clean (their bodies, their homes, their sacrifices, etc.) Blemish free. 

The Pharisees had twisted the laws to become legalistic and strict. An example would be here

Mark 7:14-23 (Jesus speaking)

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”[e]17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[f] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Food isn't what makes us unclean anymore, but rather the condition of our heart. 

There is also a lot of debate over Acts 10:9-16

But I believe this passage has a double meaning. God is reminding Peter that he does not need to be legalistic to be “clean” anymore. Therefore the laws for food were fulfilled. This is reflected in his interpretation of the vision in verses 27-29. 

Remember there was clean food and unclean food. Same for people. You weren't to associate with “unclean people”. Jesus fulfilled this law by opening the path to God to everyone, not just Jews. God gave the great commission to go out into all the world to everyone to preach the good news. This meant that anyone now had direct access to God, and the Jews no longer had to go through the extra steps to seek forgiveness. Salvation is within everyone's grasp, no matter what. 

The command for blended fabric fits with these as well. 

Deuteronomy 22:9-11

“You shall not sow your vine yard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. 

By reading this we see the pattern that God is commanding that things that are different should be kept separate. Again we need context of the time. 

Pagans in the area believed that by mixing things together they would achieve “magical” results. So God made this law to set them apart from them. He reaffirms this command, even going as far as to say not to let cattle bread with different cattle, in Leviticus 19:19. 

In todays context, what sets us apart from others is our internal change that is projected outward. We become lights for God, and show Him through our change. Of course none of us are perfect, and if we aren't careful it can quickly become fake and legalistic. 

We can wear blended fabric because Jesus fulfilled this law. 

Next keeping with our fabric theme, clothing. This verse comes from Deuteronomy as well, so I will just put the link for both here. 

Deuteronomy 22:5

 “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.”

Some pretty strong language right there, but it's important to acknowledge why. We are sinners. God set very clear laws on what was and wasn't allowed. Remember that was to set His people apart, and to test their faithfulness. 

Historically at the time men and women dressed very similarly. There were cultural ways used to discern between genders and that is what this verse is talking about here. Men did not wear pants when this law was written (at least not by the Jewish people) so why would it be a sin for women to wear pants today? It simply isn't. (Just because human men decided to use the bible to push their weird sexist agenda via mistranslation, does not mean this is what this verse intended.)

To apply it to a modern setting, it would be “why are you wearing what you are? How do you want people to perceive you? What is your heart behind wearing these clothes?”

So really this is another verse directly tied to transgendered identity sin, again a pagan tradition at the time. 

ALL SIN is repulsive to the Lord. (The Hebrew word used in this verse is found all throughout the OT, with various uses.) Yes God established the laws, but He also established the sacrificial system for His people as well. He loved them, loved us, and gave them a way to atone for their sins and find forgiveness from God. 

But the sacrifice of animals could only go so far. That is why Jesus came to be the final sacrifice. The Lamb of Salvation for us. He willingly gave His life for us, just as we can willingly continue to sin against Him, or willingly give our lives to Him. 

Jesus fulfilled the laws and abolished the need for the sacrificial system.  

OK this one has no verse in the bible that God commands us to not write in our bibles. None. Unless I’m just having trouble finding it, it's not a thing. 

The sin is changing the words, as some translations do so you have to be very careful about which ones you use. 

I got a book from the library years ago that was like a devotional for teen girls. In the book it had a verse from Psalms that sounded weird to me and when I compared the translation to my ESV, it had removed the part about God's faithfulness and love. Took it right out. That is a huge problem! 

I know that translating the Hebrew and Greek to English is very difficult, especially given how the Greek had multiple words for love alone, and many other words. However, the languages are not so vastly different that you make changes like that without a prideful agenda. Good translations that I use, ESV, NASB, AMP for study purposes. As well as NKJV if you like a classic. I’m constantly comparing translations, and looking at original texts to get a feeling for what words were used. 

I encourage you to note your bible. Mark what speaks to you, the blessings, the commands, the warnings. Every time God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are mentioned, where verses intersect. Note everything. 

For some of our brothers and sisters around the world they may only have a few pages to pass between each other, or are able to have His full word and treasure God's words dearly and keep everything they can close. They want to remember it all, and remember what they learn. And God wants that for us. 

No writing in your bible is not a sin. Changing the words or removing them is a sin. 

Ok now onto your “woman can’t speak in church” debate. 1 Corinthians 14. But because of everything I’m about to get into, this answer will be longer than the others. Feel free to stop here and come back. I know I’ve already written a lot.  

First we need to look at the history of the city of Corinth, as when Paul wrote his letters, each one was tailored to the church in question and addressed their strengths and weaknesses. 

The city of Corinth was a trade city set in a key location for sailors from all over the world. Its citizens were from all over the world, though mostly Roman, Greek, Jewish, and even a considerable amount of Italians. Because there was such a mix of cultures, there were a mix of religions. 

The largest of these being the worship of the false goddess aphrodite. Sexual actions were common with her “temple” and prostitution was a rampant issue with the city. We have two sins of sexual nature and idol worship already. Within the church itself there were reports of incest, infighting, and drunkenness during services being reported as well.

Acts 10:1-23 is Paul's first visit to Corinth where he helped found the church. A family close to Paul and in the Corinthian church wrote to Paul with their concerns for how the church was conducting themselves. The 1 Corinthians letter (book) was written in response. 

The church was a blend of Jews and Gentiles. So practices such as the aforementioned were common practice within the city and the Gentiles were at a loss for how to conduct themselves because these things were common during the worship of false gods. 

Becoming Christ-like is a beautifully long process. It's not over night, no matter how much we wish it was. These people were still human and loved Christ but still knew very little about Him, and God the Father. (even some of the Jews had a lot of misconceptions they had to change) 

So at the very beginning of his letter, Paul reminds them of their new identity. (1:1-9) and reaffirms their forgiveness through Gods grace and faithfulness to our salvation. Nothing we do after we accept His gift can revoke it. It is ours for all time for one time. 

Woman and men were traditionally seated separately in synagogues so it makes sense that practice was still used in some new churches, such as that of the Corinthians, as they did have Jewish members. 

He is calling out woman for calling to their husbands during sermons and being disruptive. Paul is asking that they save their question for after. He is also teaching woman new to these practices, gentiles, how to be respectfully in the church. 

Paul encouraged woman to pray and praise in the church, chapter 11. So it would be contradictory for Paul to then turn around and say “woman can’t speak in church” in chapter 14. 

To answer, yes woman can speak in church, but not teach to a body of men. Women can teach women, but women can’t teach men. God established a order of command. 

God

Jesus

Men

Woman

Children

Following this upward, everyone is under authority of the role’s above them. That is how God designed the family unit, and in turn the church. The church is the body of Christ, and each of us have a purpose within his body for it function. Woman have a time and place to teach, and lead, but not to men. 

I am only addressing the command pertaining to women at this time. I would love to do an in-depth look at all of 1 Corinthians, there is so much to it. Really, thank you for the opportunity to study these passages deeper, and teach them to you. I hope I did, I hope these make sense now. 

I do need to add. When comparing these commands to the command of homosexuality, its important to remember the context. Homosexuality is a sin because it goes against Gods very direct design for mankind, how the family unit functions in direct relation to the church. These other ones however were established for a period of time to set the people apart from outsiders, and do not go against His intended purpose for creation. That is a very big difference.

Feel free to ask anything else, I loved doing this. I will try to get something for all of 1 Corinthians out, but I have a full life at the moment, so it will probably take awhile.

Praying and God bless 

[uraharashouten]

Pohjola, spirit dimension near Finland, late 1500s

“A letter of transfer?” Kielo eyed the document in her husband’s hand suspiciously.

“Our Queen is requesting our presence in the Eastern Branch of Soul Society,” replied Ilmarinen. “And by our presence, I mean our permanent relocation, and by requesting, I mean ordering.”

Kielo was speechless for a long moment. “We’re… being sent away?”

“So it would seem.”

“That’s – tantamount to banishment. Exile.” Shock was now giving way to angry frustration. “Why?”

“It’s -- really not... we’re meant to be ambassadors, in a sense. And you know why. Most of the folk to the south have become followers of that Hebrew fellow. When they die, their souls seem to be stuck with him. They don’t believe in the cycle, and they don’t come here. Even in the North, most no longer fear Queen Louhi, and Tuonela’s been all but forgotten. I blame the Swedes...” he trailed off, disgruntled, before recalling he was trying to make a point. “In any case, that’s not so in the East! ---Only there, they call it the Soul Society. And lately, the Living Folk are increasingly taking to ships and making their way to Eastern Seas. And dying there. Tuoni must’ve petitioned her for some representation.”

Kielo’s eyes narrowed. “That sounds like the official party line.”

“What do you mean?”

“I bet she’s still bearing a grudge over the rake. She never forgave your grandfather, your namesake, for making that thing to dredge up the scattered bits of Lemminkäinen from the river. He shouldn’t have pursued the Queen’s daughter. She gave him an impossible task for a reason, and I’m sure she would have preferred him to rest in pieces.”

“The rake was the least of the things for which she never forgave Grandfather. It was he who shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with any of her daughters. He was a decent husband to the first, but he failed to keep her from being eaten by wolves – and then he stole the second and turned her into a seagull when she refused him. Not to mention the embarrassing interlude in between where he tried to re-create his first wife from gold and clockworks. ---He had a spotty record with women. It’s a miracle he ever managed progeny.”

“I never believed that seagull story, and neither should you. She just couldn’t stand his singing, so she left. I refuse to include it in the official records.” Kielo sighed, already beginning to resign herself to their new fate. “Well… what’s done is done, and at least I have you. A good and decent man.” She threw her arms around her husband and kissed him. “And you may not be the great seppo he was, but you’ve certainly learned the arcane art of making magical rakes.”

“Indeed, ours is a harrowing tale,” Ilmarinen returned dryly, with a sigh, embracing her and pressing his lips to the crown her head. “But it seems to be our row to hoe, as it were. Our plot to plow...” Making mystical farm implements for the Queen of Pohjola was, after all, their family trade. At least… it had been. And now, it seemed they were being summarily dismissed from service.

“I’m sure there will be a place for both of us with the Shihouin Vault,” she replied encouragingly, sensing her husband’s despondence, and now trying to find the silver lining.  She thought the reminder that Soul Society, too, had its guardians of heavenly artifacts and godly gears might be helpful.

He brightened at her words. “You think so? I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making… anything other than farm implements. And perhaps, our son – should we be blessed to have one—will rival Grandfather’s skill, and invent a heavenly artifact greater than the Sampo.”

“We’ll have to learn Japanese.”

“It can’t be that hard,” he grinned. “Certainly easier than convincing all of them to learn Suomi.”

“The writing, though,” she fretted.

“You’ll manage it. You always do. You’re a brilliant archivist, far more brilliant than you give yourself credit for,” he reassured his wife.

“And we’ll have to take a Japanese family name,” she added, not quite flattered enough to be mollified. “You know how bureaucratic they are.”

“That’s simple. My family are career makers of cultivating tools, aren’t we? It’d be nice if we can take a bit of our home with us, and pick something that describes ourselves in our old tongue, yet which also plays well with the new. Let’s just call ourselves… well, you know ‘Ura’ can mean either career or furrow, and ��Hara’ means cultivator.”

“’Urahara”, she drawled, letting the cobbled-together, freshly-coined Suomi name roll off her tongue. “But what does it mean in Japanese?”

“Ah…” His face became sheepish. To answer the question would mean he’d already looked it up – which would mean he might have kept this letter of transfer from his wife longer than he’d care to admit. “As far as I can work out, it means ‘Field by the Bay.’”

“Well…” Her smile darkened into an accusatory smirk as it dawned on her what his guilty look meant. “With any luck, maybe we’ll find one on which to build our new home. Do you think they have beaches there?”

“I suppose we’ll find out.”

Kielo drew in a long breath through her nostrils and let it out slowly, eyes sweeping the beams of their oak-hewn home. Change, she supposed, was inevitable. “Without me around to keep the record straight,” she muttered, “Someone’s going to put that ridiculous seagull story in an epic poem someday.”

[[ see under the cut for notes on what the heck this is and why I wrote it ]]

For years, Kisuke’s parents have eluded me. Having had this blog for... five years now, I’ve revisited the question periodically. First, I imagined him as coming from some kind of agrarian background, some poor farm-boy from a vassal family to the Shihouin. That later evolved to them being members of the Onmitsukidou. At some early point in his life, he lost them. But beyond that, they’ve remained a mystery to me. Who are they? Where are they from? How did they come into the service of the Shihouin, and what were they doing during that time? And why does Kisuke have blond hair and blue eyes? 

Enter Kubo’s Burn the Witch, and the Western Branch of Soul Society. Which... frankly failed to live up to my expectations. All the soul-balancing still seems to be handled by the Eastern Branch; this feels like a Hollow-harvesting field office. But at least this new material from the author allows for the possibility of other spirit-dimensions around the world, other regionalized death-management administrations. I’d long-wondered if Soul Society was meant to be a universal afterlife; I’ll just take that as a no. (I’m also going to assume that the Quincy are a cult offshoot of Judaism and Christianity, which don’t subscribe to reincarnation and hence problematically remove souls from the cycle, but that’s the topic of another meta.)

I was inspired by an epic of Finnish folk tales encapsulated in the Kalevala. They speak of a mythical land to the far North ruled by a cruel Queen named Louhi. Under her auspices also lay a land of the dead, Tuonela, which seemed about as a bleak an afterlife as Soul Society is to me. It felt like a good fit to Bleach’s whole holding-cell-for-souls-awaiting-reincarnation take on life after death.

This epic is long, and I’m scarcely familiar with all of it, but OG Ilmarinen was the smith of the gods. For a bride-payment for Louhi’s eldest daughter, he was compelled to create the Sampo. It was a sort of cornucopia of bountiful, endless harvest; a magical artifact of indeterminate type that brought riches and good fortune to its holder. 

Smith and inventor of the gods, who created a magical wish-granting artifact? This was... beginning to sound a little familiar. Ilmarinen’s tales are many and tragic, and a bit too legendary to claim a direct connection to, so I imagined him a grandson. Someone with a pedigree, with the gene for gadgetry genius, but relegated to a life of relative obscurity.

As for the name... a few years ago I was playing around with phonemes, and just for fun went digging to see if I could find a cognate of ‘Urahara’ in any European languages. Thank you, Finnish!

tl;dr: Seretei: The Living World’s shores are crawling with Dutch! Western Branch send help! Some backwater of Northern Europe: sends their third-tier mechanic and his wife.

Sources: On the rake in question On Finnish spirit-realms On Tuonela On the Sampo On the Kalevala On Finnish speakers learning Japanese

[albertfinch]

RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD - 6 (of 8)

What is the primary purpose for developing a righteousness consciousness?

     Answer:  It is so that we will respond to advancing God’s Kingdom as much like Jesus as possible.  We have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. (See Notes 1)

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2

"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:20

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." - Ephesians 2:10

How is Jesus able to do only that which He saw the Father do and say what He heard the Father say?

     Answer:  Because of His awareness of the presence of God within Him; Jesus walked in holiness; Jesus nurtured His holiness through continual fellowship with His Father and ministering to others.

"After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone." - Matthew 14:23

"Truly, truly, I say to you, 'the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, these things the son also does in like manner. For Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes." - John 5:19,21

"I and the Father are one." - John 10:30

What are some of the benefits of personal fellowship with God?

      Answer:  Fellowship will cause us to know God, to think and respond the way He does, and come to understand our Christ calling that will enable us to advance and bear fruit that remains for His Kingdom.  Fellowship purges us -- causes holiness.

"That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." - John 17:21

"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." - 2 Peter 1:4

"Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh." - Hebrews 10:19,20

What is true holiness?

     Answer:  Holiness is conduct that is in line with God's standards.

"For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ." - Colossians 2:9,10

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." - Romans 8:29

"Leaving your former way of life, you must lay aside that old human nature which, deluded by its lusts, is sinking towards death.  You must be made new in mind and spirit, and put on the new nature of God's creating, which shows itself in the just and devout life called for by the truth." - Ephesians 4:22-24

List at least two benefits to having a righteousness consciousness.

     Answers:  Will give us a passion for loving and ministering to others.  Will cause us to refuse to participate in anything which serves Satan;  Motivates our every action and thoughts to glorify God by bearing fruit that remains for His Kingdom through our Christ calling.  

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me.  He who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him." - John 14:21

"...every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." - John 15:2,3

INTO ACTION:

Affirm and meditate on the indicated scriptures four times daily until the renewing of your mind is made real to your spirit.

           AFFIRMATIONS:

I bring forth much fruit that remains  because I abide in Jesus.  The fruit I bear is through Christ only.  (John 15.5)

I am holy since I am in Christ Jesus and Jesus is in God and God is holy.  (Leviticus 20:7)

I hold fast to the confession of my faith since God is faithful to perform His word.  (Hebrews 10:23)

NOTES:

I develop a righteousness consciousness by understanding that all of my sins have been forgiven (past, present, and future), and I have complete power and authority over the demonic realm, therefore, there is nothing that can impede my advancing and bearing fruit that remains for God’s Kingdom through my Christ calling.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

5th January >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

   for:

5th January

   and

Tuesday after Epiphany Sunday.

5th January

(Liturgical Colour: White)

First Reading

1 John 3:11-21

Our love is to be something real and active

This is the message as you heard it from the beginning: that we are to love one another; not to be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and cut his brother’s throat; cut his brother’s throat simply for this reason, that his own life was evil and his brother lived a good life. You must not be surprised, brothers, when the world hates you; we have passed out of death and into life, and of this we can be sure because we love our brothers. If you refuse to love, you must remain dead; to hate your brother is to be a murderer, and murderers, as you know, do not have eternal life in them. This has taught us love – that he gave up his life for us; and we, too, ought to give up our lives for our brothers. If a man who was rich enough in this world’s goods saw that one of his brothers was in need, but closed his heart to him, how could the love of God be living in him? My children, our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active; only by this can we be certain that we are children of the truth and be able to quieten our conscience in his presence, whatever accusations it may raise against us, because God is greater than our conscience and he knows everything. My dear people, if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience, we need not be afraid in God’s presence.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 99(100)

R/ Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.    Serve the Lord with gladness.    Come before him, singing for joy.

R/ Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Know that he, the Lord, is God.    He made us, we belong to him,    we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

R/ Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Go within his gates, giving thanks.    Enter his courts with songs of praise.    Give thanks to him and bless his name.

R/ Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,    eternal his merciful love.    He is faithful from age to age.

R/ Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Gospel Acclamation

Hebrews 1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia! At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! A hallowed day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, worship the Lord, for today a great light has shone down upon the earth. Alleluia!

Or:

John 1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia! The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. To all who received him he gave power to become children of God. Alleluia!

Gospel

John 1:43-51

You will see heaven laid open, and the Son of Man

After Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, he met Philip and said, ‘Follow me.’ Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ ‘From Nazareth?’ said Nathanael ‘Can anything good come from that place?’ ‘Come and see’ replied Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, ‘There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.’ ‘How do you know me?’ said Nathanael. ‘Before Philip came to call you,’ said Jesus ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’ And then he added ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday after Epiphany Sunday

(Liturgical Colour: White)

First Reading

1 John 4:7-10

Let us love one another, since love comes from God

My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 71(72):1-4,7-8

R/ All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

O God, give your judgement to the king,    to a king’s son your justice, that he may judge your people in justice    and your poor in right judgement.

R/ All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people    and the hills, justice. May he defend the poor of the people    and save the children of the needy.

R/ All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

In his days justice shall flourish    and peace till the moon fails. He shall rule from sea to sea,    from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

R/ All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation

cf. Matthew 4:23

Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom and cured all kinds of diseases among the people. Alleluia!

Or:

Luke 4:17

Alleluia, alleluia! The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives. Alleluia!

Or:

Luke 7:16

Alleluia, alleluia! A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people. Alleluia!

Or:

cf.1 Timothy 3:16

Alleluia, alleluia! Glory to you, O Christ, proclaimed to the pagans; glory to you, O Christ, believed in by the world. Alleluia!

Or:

Matthew 4:16

Alleluia, alleluia! The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned. Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 6:34-44

The feeding of the five thousand

As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late. So send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves have you?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

19th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 1:5-25 for The 19th December: ‘The Lord has done this for me’.

19th December

Gospel (Except USA)

Luke 1:5-25

'Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son'

In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both getting on in years.   

  Now it was the turn of Zechariah’s section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as the ritual custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there. And at the hour of incense the whole congregation was outside, praying.   

  Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. But the angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink. Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.’   

  Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’ Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had received a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them, and remained dumb.   

  When his time of service came to an end he returned home. Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept to herself. ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 1:5-25

The birth of John the Baptist is announced by Gabriel.

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.    Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.    But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”    Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute.    Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.    After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”

Reflections (9)

(i) 19th December

We have a lot of exposure to bad news. Good news is not considered ‘news’ by our media to the same extent as bad news. If we are constantly exposed to bad news, it can leave us somewhat dispirited. We can be so used to hearing bad news that when good news comes along it doesn’t really register with us. In today’s gospel reading, the good news that the angel Gabriel brought to Zechariah did not really register with him. When Gabriel told him that himself and his wife Elizabeth would soon have a child, John the Baptist, Zechariah did not believe the words of Gabriel, ‘How can I be sure of this?’ Zechariah’s failure to hear this good news from God had a negative impact on his speech. In fact, he lost his power of speech. In the Scriptures the close relationship between hearing and speaking is often highlighted. Good listening comes before good speaking. Our own inability to really absorb into our hearts and minds the good news of God’s visitation to us through Jesus can impact negatively on our speech. If we allow ourselves to be really touched by the good news we celebrate at this time of the year, the way we speak will have something of the quality of that good news. At Christmas we celebrate the wonderful way God has graced and continues to grace all our lives. Like Zechariah, we can find that hard to believe. However, if we make that gospel message our own, our own speech and, indeed, our own presence, will be good news for others.

And/Or

(ii) 19th December

When we hear the word ‘annunciation’ we probably immediately think of the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary. This morning’s gospel reading gives us another annunciation, the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah. The angel announces to Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth is to bear him a son, whose name is to be John. In Hebrew this name means ‘God is gracious’. God is about to be surprisingly gracious to Zechariah and his wife. However, unlike in the case of Mary, Zechariah’s faith is not quite adequate for this extraordinary announcement, extraordinary because both Zechariah and his wife were advanced in years. God was about to do something that far exceeded Zechariah’s expectations, and Zechariah could not quite take it in. He could not hear it. The angel then announced to him that his inability to hear what God was about to do would show itself in his inability to speak. Inadequate listening can often lead to inadequate speaking. Hearing comes before speaking and is more important than speaking. Zechariah was not sufficiently open to God’s generous ways and this lack of openness undermined his ability to communicate with others. The gospel reading calls on us to be open to the surprising ways of a gracious and generous God, and warns us that our limited expectations of God can be a block to God’s work and can also leave us less alive than God intends us to be.

 And/Or

(iii) 19th December

In this morning’s gospel reading, the angel Gabriel is sent to Zechariah to bring him the good news that his wife, Elizabeth, who has been barren will soon give birth to a son, and a special son at that, someone whose calling it would be to prepare for the Lord a people fit for him. However, this good news was too much for Zechariah to hear and he could not bring himself to believe the words that Gabriel spoke to him. Perhaps there is something of Zechariah in all of us. We sometimes find it hard to believe good news, perhaps because we are so used to hearing bad news. In particular, we can sometimes find it hard to believe the good news that comes to us from God; or we may believe the good news from God in a general kind of a way, but not as good news addressed to me personally. The dimension of God’s good news that we celebrate at this time of the year is that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has become God-with-us, Emmanuel, in and through Mary’s son, Jesus. This is God’s good news addressed to us as a people, and addressed to us as individuals. God is with us in Christ, and Christ is beside us, behind us, before us, above us, below us. This is the good news we are asked to believe and, indeed, rejoice in during these days.

 And/Or

(iv) 19th December

The gospel reading this morning is the account of the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah. The annunciation of the angel Gabriel to him occurred while he was at prayer, while he was exercising his priestly duties in the temple. The news that Gabriel brought him was so wonderful that he could not bring himself to believe it, ‘How can I be sure of this?’ he asked. His subsequent silence suggests that he had nothing to say because he had not been able to hear what God had to say to him. Good listening comes before good speaking, or, indeed, as the gospel reading suggests, before any form of speaking at all. Zechariah could not bring himself to hear the good news that God was communicating to him. Sometimes we too can be slow to hear the gospel, the good news, that God is with us through his Son and that God’s love for us in his Son is stronger than sin and death. We perhaps can think that the good news, the gospel, is for others, but not really for me. Because we don’t really take in this good news and allow it to take root in our hearts, our speech is not all it could be, indeed, our lives are not all they could be. This morning we pray for a greater openness within us as we approach the feast of Christmas to hear and receive the news of great joy that Gabriel brought to Zechariah and later to Mary and that the angels brought to the shepherds.

 And/Or

(v) 19th December

In the gospel reading the angel Gabriel proclaims the gospel to Zechariah. She brings him the good news that his wife Elizabeth, who never had children, has now conceived a son and not just any son but a son will be filled with the Holy Spirit and who will go before the Lord preparing a people fit for him. This was wonderful news, but Zechariah could not bring himself to believe it. ‘How can I be sure of this?’ he asked. He could not hear the good news and his inability to hear left him speechless. His failure to hear led to his failure, his inability, to speak. It is often the way that our own failure to hear, to really listen, has a negative impact on how we speak. Good speaking is rooted in good listening and poor speaking can be rooted in poor listening. Listening comes before speaking. Like Zechariah, we can struggle to hear what is being said to us, and, strange as it may seem, we can struggle to hear the good news that the Lord proclaims to us. A voice in us can be saying ‘this is too good to be true’. We can fail to really hear the gospel, the good news that God loves us all and each one of us so much that he gave his only Son to us and for us. If we really heard that word of the Lord, that word of love, and allowed it to sink deep into our hearts, then it would transform us and would powerfully impact on how we speak, what we say and how we say it.

 And/Or

(vi) 19th December

This morning’s gospel reading is one of many examples in the Scriptures of the encounter between the divine and the human. The angel Gabriel, who stands in God’s presence, brings an extraordinary message of good news to a priest advanced in years while he was exercising his priestly office in the Temple in Jerusalem. The good news was that Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, would soon give birth to an exceptional child who would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb and who would go on to become the prophet who is to prepare people for the long awaited coming of the Lord. This was such extraordinary news that Zechariah refused to believe it. ‘How can I be sure of this?’ he asked. He soon found himself dumb before this mystery that had broken into his life. We can all be slow to hear good news, especially good news that seems to defy human logic and reasoning. Our analytic mind can sometimes serve to keep the Lord at a distance. Yes, as believers we are encouraged to question, to seek understanding of the one in whom we believe. Yet, the essence of faith is a kind of child-like surrender to the surprising and undeserved gift of God’s favour. Having given ourselves over to the good news of God’s gracious initiative towards us, there is then much room for pondering these wonderful things in our heart, after the example of Mary.

 And/Or

(vii) 19th December

Our parish church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and this morning’s gospel is Luke’s story of the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to the priest Zechariah. Gabriel brought Zechariah the good news that his wife Elizabeth was to bear him a son in answer to their prayers, a son who would be great in the sight of the Lord and who would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. Zechariah could not bring himself to believe this good news. He doubted the words of the angel. ‘How can I be sure of this?’ Because he couldn’t hear this good news, he lost his power of speech; he had nothing to say. We all sometimes struggle to hear good news. We can be more attuned to bad news. Advent is a season when we are invited to become more attuned to good news, not just any good news, but God’s good news, and not just the good news that Zechariah refused to believe but even more wonderful good news than was announced to him. We are asked to hear again and believe the good news that God has come among us in the form of one like ourselves. God so desires to be in communion with us and so desires us to be in communion with him that God took flesh in a human life, in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary and Joseph. That same Jesus lives among us as risen Lord. God so loves the world that he gave and continues to give us his Son. This is the good news we are asked to keep hearing and receiving and responding to, especially in these final days of Advent.

 And/Or

(viii) 19th December

In this morning’s gospel reading, Zechariah hears good news from the God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel. His prayers of many years have been heard. His wife Elizabeth is to bear him a son, who will be named John. Yet, Zechariah cannot bring himself to believe this good news. ‘How can I be sure of this?’ he asks disbelievingly. As a result of his failure to hear the good news that God proclaimed to him, he was struck dumb. Perhaps we are being reminded that there is often a relationship between how well we hear and how well we speak. Zechariah’s failure to really listen to what Gabriel was saying to him impacted on his ability to communicate with others. In our own interaction with each other, we often need to listen attentively before we speak. Good speaking often requires good listening. If someone has something to say to us, something they want to share with us, we need to listen carefully to what is being said, if the words we speak in response are to be helpful to that person. Today’s gospel suggests that listening to the Lord is even more important than listening to each other. We need to listen especially to the Lord’s good news, to the gospel of God’s gracious love for us, God’s great favour towards us. This was the message Zechariah failed to hear. If we really listen to the gospel, and allow the Lord’s good news to enter us, our speaking will be somehow shaped by that good news. Our words, indeed our presence, will be good news for others.

 And/Or

(ix) 19th December

Yesterday’s gospel reading from Matthew was the story of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Joseph. Today’s gospel reading from Luke is the story of the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah. Joseph was a carpenter in the small village of Nazareth in Galilee. Zechariah was a priest who was carrying out his duties in the Temple of Jerusalem. The Lord spoke to both of these men as they went about their very different tasks. The Lord always meets us where we are, wherever that is. Although a priest, familiar with the world of the sacred, Zechariah’s response to God’s messenger was one of disbelief. As the angel Gabriel declared to him, ‘you have not believed my words’. Zechariah was rendered dumb, as if to indicate that this experience left him speechless. It was such a mysterious experience that he could say nothing about it to anyone. Some months later when his child was born and he had started to come to terms with the mystery of it all, he would speak, and, how he would speak! He would burst forth in the praise of God, in the wonderful prayer that we have come to call the Benedictus and that has become part of the morning prayer of the church. Sometimes, the Lord can touch our lives in very mysterious ways, in ways that leave us speechless. We struggle to put words on the experience. Saint Paul once referred to some mystical experience in which ‘he heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat’. Silence is often the only response we can make to the Lord touching our lives in some mysterious way. Like Zechariah, it is only over time that we may find words to proclaim such experiences to God and to others.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[dailyaudiobible]

02/06/2021 DAB Transcript

Exodus 23:14-25:40, Matthew 24:29-51, Psalms 30:1-12, Proverbs 7:24-27

Today is the 6th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is a joy to be here with you today as we approach the end of another one of our weeks together. And when we conclude our reading for today, we will have completed nearly…nearly a full week of the month of February. So, it is exciting to be on this journey and take the next step forward, which will lead us back into the book of Exodus. And if we remember we are at the mountain of God. We are with the children of Israel surrounding Mount Sinai. God is speaking and beginning to lay out some of the principles and rituals and laws that He is integrating as He weaves together the tapestry of the Hebrew people. So, we’re reading from the Voice Translation this week, which is today. Exodus chapter 23 verse 14 to 25 verse 40.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week and it. They’re just kind of…well. They’re moving by day by day step-by-step they’re moving by as they should but we’re recognizing that we’re moved into this new year. This is our year to live and You are instructing us. And we thank You for the word over this year, to “Mend”. This is this year of mending. And, so, we hear what was written in the Psalms today, the 30th chapter - “Eternal one, my true God, I cried out to You for help. You mended the shattered pieces of my life.” That is our prayer God. Some of us came into this new year unrecognizable completely shattered into a billion pieces and some of us feel that way right now. But this isn’t a matter of degree. It’s not like we’re trying to measure up to see whose more shattered here. We’re all broken, and we've all got shattered pieces in our lives, we have shattered pieces in our hearts. Life has dealt us some blows. It does this to everyone. And we are instructed to love You with our whole heart, and we confess that there are broken pieces of our hearts. Come as is in the Psalms. We cry out to You for help. You mend the shattered pieces of our lives. So, as we release this week as it becomes a part of our history, we look forward into the future for You to mend the shattered pieces of our lives. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, that is where you find out what's going on around here. And an alternative to that would be the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can also find out what’s going on around here. So, stay…stay connected.

Be aware of the Community section, be aware of the Prayer Wall. Visit the Prayer Wall. Be aware of the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible I…I can't thank you enough. I Can't thank you enough. We wouldn't be here if we were not in this together. I…I say that often say that often because it's the truth. So, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you're using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you've a prayer request or encouragement hit the Hotline button in the app. No matter where you are on this planet hit the Hotline button in the app and you can share from there or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Renzo from Maryland. I just wanna pray for the girl on the other line. This is February 1st. I just want to pray for the other girl on the other line that said her mom was a drug addict and she was 13 years old. I just want to say that's amazing that you’re on here reading the gospel at 13 years old. Keep keep…doing that. That's amazing. And I just pray for your mom right now. Father God I just thank You for everything that You do for us and I just please pray God that her mom just recovers from this addiction God. I believe You can heal anybody's addiction God. You’ve healed mine. You’ve healed my addiction to porn God, and I thank You that You healed that for me, and I've been clean for almost two years now and I thank You God that You did that. And, so, please just help her to just get closer to You God and just forgive her of what she did. Sometimes it’s so hard for us to forgive and that's how it was for me God. I just thank You for You for everything that You do for us God and we love You in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. God bless you have a good rest of your day.

Hi this is Tiffany at first time caller from Cleveland OH. I've been listening every day this year and I pray with you daily. I feel so close to the DAB family and I thank you Brian for your love. Today I ask for prayer for my husband Tony and I. February 24th will be seven years since our daughter Janna's death. Our grief is difficult through this month as we remember our girl gone too soon. Grief also affects my ability to focus. Please pray for me to love my husband, to feel, to focus, and to be a good mom to my living children. Thank you in advance.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Emily from Minnesota and actually this is my first year doing DAB. I started January 1st and I found it to be such a blessing. I have been hit with a bit of suffering the past couple of years period. It started with my son who died by suicide his freshman year of College in his dorm. And my family really wants…doesn't want to go to God for this. So, I am just simply embracing Jesus to carry me through. And then also my parents and my two brothers they've all been hit pretty hard. My mom was placed in memory care last year upstate when Covid hit in March and my dad is living independently but is showing strong signs of dementia and isn’t really willing to accept a lot of help. My younger brother lost his wife to cancer November 30th with a young family of four. And I have an older brother who appears to be struggling with addiction and homelessness. I just want to ask you all to lift up my family. I just do the best I can and rely on Jesus to carry me through each day each step. It's rough some days. And I know He has a plan and I know…I know God knows and I would just to ask for your support in my journey. Thank you.

Hey, my supportive DAB family this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel. Family, support is absolutely what I need right now. The short of it is I received a call from my ex-wife which is a miracle all by itself. She was very distraught and informed me that our son Daniel the 2nd, basically snapped and was admitted into a psych ward. And I guess they were trying to prescribe some meds to him, and he refused. But at any rate after several attempts to reach him I finally got a chance to talk with him and he did not sound like my son, did not sound like my son at all and I just need your prayers. I’m believing God to rescue my boy from this place that he's in. And, so, I'm asking if my family would come around Daniel Christopher young the 2nd? My ex-wife also informed me several years later that my…my youngest Hannah was assaulted twice. Why she chose not to tell me until eight years later I don't know but needless to say Hannah is in a bad place as well. My oldest Bianca is confused with her identity sexually. And, so, family will you please pray for my children. Bianca, and Daniel, and Hannah.

[singing starts] Oh, my Savior I am so grateful I'm Yours. Oh, my Savior I am so grateful I'm Yours. With every new sun that rises Your mercy it meets me there. Your faithfulness is unchangeable. You always love me and care. Oh, my Savior I am so grateful I'm Yours. Oh, my savior I am so grateful I'm yours. [singing stops] I lift this offering up to you Jesus and I ask Lord that you would cover the Daily Audio Bible family with your blood, that you would fill them to full and overflowing with your Holy Spirit, that you would protect them, keep them safe, bless them. And father God let us enter deeper into your presence. Great is your faithfulness. We love you so much. In Jesus’ name we ask these things. What a miracle. I love you Treasured Possession.

Well, hello everybody and congratulations you finished your first month listening to the DAB. Job well done. That is awesome. So, welcome all new listeners and of course us long time listeners this is Lori music the transplant from Chicago down to beautiful Hebrew Springs Arkansas. Lord I'm just coming to You and we’re thanking You for the people that do call in and share their stories and prayer requests and many of them just break my heart Father God, but I pray immediately for You all. But I'm calling today to come before the Lord with the unspoken prayer requests, the ones that people are too shy or timid to call in and request. So, Father You know these unspoken prayers Father God. You know our hearts You know our needs You know our wants and our desires Father. So, I'm asking a special blessing on those people that haven't called in yet and that You answer their prayers Father God. And Lord You know I've been out of a job since November, but I know that Your timing is perfect Father. So, every day when I wake up, I will say this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh wow, so, I'm starting my 11th year on DAB and my second year on Chronological. I pray for Brian and Jill and China, give them special blessing father. We love you all. Have a blessed day.

[mrlnsfrt]

What To Do With Doubt

Here is a thought-provoking quote,

God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith. - Steps to Christ p105 (bold mine)

When thinking about God I think of the words of Zophar to Job

“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. - Job 11:7-9 NKJV

It would be arrogant of anyone to claim to fully grasp God.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. - Romans 11:33-36 NKJV

Just because we will never be able to fully grasp who God is it does not mean that we cannot know anything about God.

Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. - Psalm 97:2 NKJV

God has revealed to us as much of His purposes as it is for our good to know; and beyond this, we must trust His omnipotent hand and His loving heart. This should not surprise us since in the natural world we are constantly surrounded by mysteries that we cannot fully understand. The tiniest and simplest living organisms present problems that the most capable biologists are powerless to fully explain. Everywhere are wonders beyond our understanding. Therefore, we should not be surprised to find that in the spiritual world there are also mysteries that we cannot fathom. The difficulty lies entirely in the weakness and narrowness of the human mind. In the Bible, God gives us sufficient evidence of their divine character, and we should not doubt His word because we cannot understand all the mysteries of His providence. 

I recognize that there is much I don’t understand in Math, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc. yet I do not reject these areas of science. I simply humbly accept that I have much to learn. And this brings us to my next point. It is exactly this mystery and greatness of the themes presented in the Bible that should inspire our faith in its supernatural origins. After all, if we could fully understand everything in the Bible would it not mean it was created by finite humans? We should not be surprised when we are humbled by our study of God’s word.

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” - Hebrews 3:12-15 NKJV

As we study the Bible we must do so with a humble heart, otherwise, we may end up rejecting God. Some mysteries belong to God, but He has also revealed to us what we need to know in the Bible.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. - Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV

God does not call us to blind faith or to be intellectually lazy. I know the following is a long quote but read this paragraph carefully.

God desires man to exercise his reasoning powers; and the study of the Bible will strengthen and elevate the mind as no other study can. Yet we are to beware of deifying reason, which is subject to the weakness and infirmity of humanity. If we would not have the Scriptures clouded to our understanding, so that the plainest truths shall not be comprehended, we must have the simplicity and faith of a little child, ready to learn, and beseeching the aid of the Holy Spirit. A sense of the power and wisdom of God, and of our inability to comprehend His greatness, should inspire us with humility, and we should open His word, as we would enter His presence, with holy awe. When we come to the Bible, reason must acknowledge an authority superior to itself, and heart and intellect must bow to the great I AM.  - Steps to Christ p109

There must be a balance when approaching God and the Bible. Every time we read the Bible we have an opportunity to develop not only our faith but also our intellect, but for this to take place, we must have the proper balance between a deep desire to learn and understand God while also recognizing that we must humbly approach God. If we approach the Bible carelessly we can end up doing more harm than good. If we are not prayerful and our thoughts and affections are not fixed on God our mind will become clouded and doubts will creep in.

If we want to discover the truth, we must seek it earnestly. If we want to discover deeper truths about God, we must also be willing to live out those truths. Why would God reveal more truths to us when we are rejecting plain truths He has already revealed to us?

If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.- John 7:17 NKJV

Jesus taught that to know concerning the doctrine a desire to do the will of God was required.

Sadly, too often, the true cause of skepticism is the love of sin. We don’t really want to know the will of God, especially when it goes against what we want to do. So the heart of the matter is not that the Bible is incomprehensible, but rather that we do not desire to give up our desires, we do not wish to fully surrender to God.

Reading the Bible is not easy. There will always be mysteries and topics that demand deeper study. The Bible often judges me and causes me to humble myself, confess my sins, and repent. The Bible reveals to me how selfish my heart is. But the Bible also points to God and in Jesus, I find hope and the answer to all my problems.

Don’t take my word for it. Study the Bible for yourself!

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! - Psalm 34:8 NKJV

Taste and see, is an invitation, don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself!

Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. - John 16:24 NKJV

Seek God, ask for His guidance. God is interested in revealing Himself to you.

We no longer have to remain in ignorance!

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14 NKJV

So when it is all said and done, why do I study the Bible? Why do I believe the Bible?

 Because I have found the Bible to be the voice of God to my soul.

This is my personal experience, but it can be yours too. Like Paul, I wish to encourage you to grow in your knowledge of Jesus.

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 3:18 NKJV

Consider the following quote,

When the people of God are growing in grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred truths. This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will continue to the end. - Steps to Christ p112

But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. - Proverbs 4:18 NKJV

[holyspiritofprayer]

5 Amazing Ways to Throw Satan off His Game with Worship

Here is a secret that Satan doesn’t want you to know about worship: It has the power to defeat him.

Of course, you have many spiritual weapons to use in every fight of faith you’ll ever encounter in your life—the most powerful one being the Word of God. However, while prayer and the Word were given exclusively to the people of the Kingdom, worship was Satan’s before it was ours.

Satan understands the power of worship. He understands its purpose more than many Christians do. Satan understands that worshipping God draws you closer to Him—and above anything he ever tries to do, He wants to keep you apart from God!

Of course, nothing can separate you from God’s love, but plenty of things can separate you from connecting with the Spirit of God in worship. Well, it would be more accurate to say this: Plenty of things can make you feel separated from God in worship.

The truth is that you have as much access to God’s holy presence in worship as you ever did. But sometimes we feel like we can’t because we aren’t “worthy.” Satan expects that your natural inclination will be to avoid worship altogether or to just go through the motions when life gets hard, or when you’ve messed up, or when your emotions don’t “feel” like it...so he will throw everything he can at you to keep you trapped and disconnected.

If you want to throw Satan off his game in worship, here is your 5-part winning strategy:

1. Be Bold

Satan’s primary strategy is to keep Christians self-centered and self-conscious so that you never develop a God-consciousness. When you praise and worship the Lord, your mind is utterly fixed on Him, and you deliberately sacrifice and intentionally set aside your own situations, emotions, opinions, problems, worries, weights, and sins—and everything else involving self—to worship the Savior.

Sin is the primary way we become disconnected from God in worship. Not because He left us, but because we walked away from Him. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” the author of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 4:16.

Psalm 34:5 says, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.” Spiritual boldness is shocking to Satan because he wants you scared and trapped in sin.

If you want to throw Satan off his game, worship. No matter how hard it is, no matter what you have to sacrifice within your “self.” Exalt the Savior. Satan will never see it coming!

2. Be Worthy

There is no spiritual qualification to praise and worship the Lord when you are in Christ. None. You are counted worthy. Paul wrote, in 2 Cor. 5:17 that if you are in Christ, you are a completely new creation. Not a repaired, glued together old creation. A new one that never existed before!

Of course, you should, “Walk worthy of your calling,” as Paul wrote (Ephesians 4:1), but one of the things we all struggle with is that we “judge ourselves unworthy” (Acts 13:46) and we don’t enter into worship because we think God still counts our sin against us.

Will you experience the natural consequences of sin? Yes.

Will you feel distance between you and God each time you willfully disobey? Yes.

But in Christ, you are still worthy.

“Feeling” worthy is a lie from Satan.

You may never feel worthy, because you aren’t...but Jesus is! Because of Him, you’re still worthy, even when you sin. That’s because your worthiness isn’t dependent on your actions, but on the actions of Jesus Christ.

Should you continue in your sin? “Certainly not!” as Paul wrote. (Romans 6:1-2)

But whenever you’re struggling with sin, Satan will use that “foothold” to try and drag you further away from the presence of God. Worship the Lord! His presence is transformative, healing, life-giving and powerful. And, because of that, Satan knows he’ll lose the war if you worship.

3. Be Unashamed

One of the most effective ways Satan tries to keep the people of God apart from the power of His presence is through shame. Not the shame of sin (see above), but the shame of “self” expression in worship. Remember being “self” conscious will prevent you from being God-conscious.

Is everyone looking at me? What will people say if I clap or raise my hands or shout hallelujah? Or testify? Or weep? Or prophesy? Or dance? These are all scriptural expressions of praise and worship, yet we become so encompassed in what others will think or how they’ll react that we forget about what God will think, or how He will react!

When it comes to praise and worship, no Scriptural expression should be off the table, and, in fact, each one should be incorporated. But that’s easier said than done, because of pressures and expectations and “the way things are done.” But if God isn’t ashamed of how you want to express yourself worship, why are you?

Gratitude is the origin of worship, but the sacrifice of “self” is what ignites it to a whole, new level. Want to catch Satan off guard? Do something in worship you’ve never done before! He’s tried to trap you and he thinks you don’t know how to get out.

Jesus Christ set you free, now worship like you believe it!

4. Be Committed

A lifestyle of worship is what will carry you through to the other side of every dark valley. Many times, we think about worship as something for “us” when, really, worship is all about ministry to the Lord, not what the Lord can do for us. Blessings, help in trouble, refreshing, a word in season, healing, and everything else are the natural results of true worship, but should not be the reason for worship.

Jesus is the reason we worship! Worship is a spiritual discipline and developing a lifestyle of worship takes intention, like anything else does.

When you don’t feel like worshipping, you won’t do it. However, it’s similar to losing weight, or working on your marriage or even taking care of your kids—when you don’t “feel” like it, something greater than yourself compels you to act because you’re committed.

Soon, the more committed you are to developing a lifestyle of worship, worship soon becomes your natural response to life—and that will make all the difference! “My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,” the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 84:2. This desperate desire to be close to the Lord comes from...being close to the Lord!

Satan wants you busy elsewhere, too tired, too frustrated, too worried, too angry, too discouraged to worship. If you’re looking for passion in your worship—start with commitment.

5. Be Willing

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” Jesus said, in Matthew 26:41. Of course you’re willing to worship...we all are. Otherwise, what’s the point of being a Christian? Fire insurance? We praise and worship the Lord because we love Him and because He loved us first. But don’t stop there. Be willing in all of it. This is where it gets hard.

We say we are willing, but then we hesitate or draw a line with God for what we will or will not do in worship. Be willing to offer Him a fresh sacrifice, to step outside your comfort zone and to tune in to the Holy Spirit.

Be willing to ask what He wants from you in worship. And be willing to do it as your sacrifice. If you ask the Holy Spirit how He wants you to worship Him, He will inspire your spirit with the answer.

Did you ever stop to realize that He might like to see something different from you? Would your spouse feel loved and appreciated if all you ever did was high-five them? Or would your kids feel complete if all you did was pat their head? One day it may be a sacrifice just to sing. On another day, maybe the Lord prompts you to speak...shout...kneel...or dance!

He will always challenge you because it will change you. Are you willing?

Satan wants to change you by throwing challenges at you. But if you can discipline yourself to see worship through the eyes of faith, you’ll come to learn that praise and worship are not about how you feel. It can’t be! That’s what Satan wants!

Sing spiritual words. Do spiritual actions. Live a life of spiritual growth. Now…stop, drop, and worship!

[cownoseray]

Prayer | Umbrella Academy

Several years in the past, Klaus and his company arrive in a bustling Vietnamese city after a long journey. Klaus has his first semi-religious experience.

You can also read it on my Archive down below.

—

'Bạn đã mất một ai đó?

You lost someone?

Băn khoăn hay lạc lối?

Disturbed or astray?

Kitô hữu vào bên trong.

Christians come in.'

Well, it was better than nothing.

Klaus approached the dilapidated church on the corner, less than excited to enter this "holy" building. Whether it was something to behold before or just as mediocre, the Ho Minha congregational church had seen better days. There was no bell hung in the bell tower; The roof had a few cracked or wholly absent shingles; the stained glass windows were dirty, dusty, turning Jesus' family portrait into a caricature of life in the Dust Bowl. Door hinges squealed age-old protests as he stepped through the door.

The inside was a little neater: pews in careful arrays and a podium up front, with risers just behind that might have been for the choir. Reginald was a stickler about church for a while, forced the siblings to go, so the whole thing wasn't entirely foreign. The familiarity was just too distant to touch. Bad memories had pushed it from Klaus's mind, like a kite with it's string spooled all the way out.

Klaus felt the briefest chill skitter along his spine.

He felt a little uncomfortable just standing. His sleeveless jacket showed his many tattoos to, for all he knew, some Buddhist God or Monk that curated the church. He was doing a shit job if there was, and the scruffy little man got the feeling it still wasn't the case.

Klaus ran a callused finger along the back of a pew. His pad came back dusty. Was it a Vietnamese rule to not clean anything more than twice a year? Klaus rubbed his finger and thumb to dispell the muck and walked on to the very first pew. Somewhere in the surrounding halls, music echoed, muted, like the sound of solemn chimes playing in tandem.

"Ya'aseh shalom...ya'aseh shalom..."

Gee.

What had Klaus come here for? He almost forgot. With the whole lack of sanctity and the almost complete lack of people (excluding the Vietnamese woman who very clearly avoided being in the same room with him).

"Oseh shalom bim' romav....aleinu, v'al kol yisrael..."

It sounded something like Hindu or Hebrew, whatever that language was called. Jewish folk occupied one-half of the Christian Church, apparently. Fuck it. It was Vietnam. The fact that this temple had been converted to a Christian hideaway meant it was an act found by coercion. Any and all churches they found along the war path would probably have the same origins. Klaus might've questioned the morality of the whole thing, but he only recognized that prayer because he had spent more than a few nights in the shelter of church arches and stoops, listening to the sermons or prayers or hymns while trying to sleep. They typically went in one ear, out the other, disappearing in the air like curls of smoke from his nose.

Klaus found it soothing despite himself. He took a seat in one dusty pew, hunched over. A sigh rattled around the confines of his ribcage. Why had he even come here? What was this supposed to achieve?

Need something?

Probably, Klaus thought. Mentally, he replaced the wall between him and the ghosts hovering in the back of his mind. Then a shadow fell over his shoulders, his legs, and the dark man twitched his head up to see what had caused it.

"Need something?" A short woman with fire red hair repeated in a gentle tone, reaching tentatively for Klaus's shoulder. Concern lit up the brown of her eyes into something like brushed gold.

"No, no, just uh...thiiiinking." Klaus let the last syllable drawl out as his train of thought briefly derailed. The nurse just smiled, placating, smoothing her scrub skirt with dried stains on it; she sat a foot away from the stranger on the pew. Klaus never flinched at blood, but something about the skirt made his throat close up. The gore she must've just saw to end up with such marks. There were splatters, and splotches like someone with bloodied hands had grabbed her, or--

"I'm a nurse."

Klaus jumped. "Pa-pardon?"

"The blood. I'm a nurse. MASH unit one-oh-nine." Her smile fell. Klaus waited for further explanation. She didn't give it.

"I'm just a soldier," Klaus hummed. "I think..33rd. Y'know, the whole war would be a lot more tolerable without all the 5-mile marches."

The nurse giggled at that, giving Klaus room to relax as much as he physically could. She had no reason to believe he didn't belong here. Or that a briefcase mistakenly brought him from New York, 2017 to Saigon, 1964. "I'm Klaus."

"Bonnie."

The silence went on for a while after that. The Jewish hymns petered out, started up again; the praying Buddhists spoke in hushed whispers with their foreheads pressed to points at the foot of a bronze statue. Bonnie fidgeted, sniffled, then suddenly plucked a hymn book from the back of the pew. She moved closer. "Sing with me, Klaus?"

Klaus hissed through clenched teeth. Should've known. God damned southern Jesus freaks.

"I don't, um, remember many hymns." Seeing her face fall, he rushed to finish with, "But it would help me if you sang it. Y'know, so I can, um, pray."

Bonnie nodded, and Klaus didn't miss the change in demeanor. Suddenly a determined, motherly woman replaced the trembling girl who just didn't want to be here, trying to save lives that were already gone. Gone before they hit the operating table.

"You go 'head and think about someone--someone you want to keep safe. Could be here or back stateside."

Dave.

Klaus mumbled assent and ducked his head. Bonnie quirked a brow, noting the fleeting look of love in his eye, but said nothing. She eased into a gentle song as Klaus studied his feet, feeling rather useless, dumb, childish, all the colors of the rainbow of shame.

"Make me a channel of your peace...When there's despair in life let me bring hope..."

Very steadily, Klaus could feel the presence of the intangible, forming ranks around the two of them. Furtively, he glanced through his lashes at the air. Blue smoke, the shapes of bodies slowly shaping themselves. Klaus swallowed back a lump, quiet horror filling his chest like tar.

A Vietnamese boy with his leg missing at the hip, nothing but a strange blue wisp where his stump was. A middle-aged soldier, forehead split, some exposed skull in fragments just beneath, with the hardest eyes he'd ever seen. An Asian woman in elegant wear stood right beside him, caked in dried red paste, gripping the dainty hand of a child in her own. All of them, he noticed, stared straight at Bonnie. Unwavering. Intense.

Some of their auras were bright, some fading, evidence they had been dead for some time. The "fresh" auras had similarly fresh wounds, some still dropping coagulated clumps of blood around them; Some of them had clothes a size too small, namely the little ones, all of whom were not fresh and bore little to no outward wounds on clear, wood brown skin, standing with mothers and fathers who most certainly died violently. The implications of that were almost too much for Klaus to handle.

"...Where there is darkness, holy light...and where there's sadness, ever joy..."

Bonnie ran through two more verses. The song faded, as did the echo, but the ghosts remained, though their light flickered perilously. Tears threatening to fall finally dried on his cheeks. Klaus hid a sniffle with the creaking of the seat when he sat up.

"Do you think we're doing okay?" Bonnie broke the painful silence with a whisper, a quaver in her voice. "Here, I mean. Are we doing good for the people here? Should we even be here?"

Standing right behind Bonnie, hands on her shoulders, a young man, smiling so softly Klaus thought it wasn't there at all. He couldn't have been more than 19 or 20. The beginnings of gory lacerations peeked from over the pew, disappeared beneath it, much to his relief. He was making noise, unintentionally, like water dropping on the ground below. Strangely, his blue aura was strong, not wavery or faint like the other's. Fresh. Recent?

Bonnie couldn't feel the touch, couldn't see the ring of people around them, but Klaus met the eyes of the apparition. It nodded. Slowly, sadly, he nodded back.

"Yes." Bonnie turned her head, taken aback, as though she hadn't expected him to answer.

"Yes," Klaus rasped, his breath taken from him because he honestly hadn't expected an answer himself. "Yes, I think we are doing good here. One of us is."