Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Hebrews – Getting out of the way

What encouragement! What a pep talk from the writer of Hebrews, from God Himself to us, too! Think of a ball game you have played in the past, when your team was down and you felt beaten and confused before the game was over. The opponent looked like they were going to win. What did you coach say? Okay, it’s time to give up? NO! The coach said to stay with it, give it all you have! It’s not over! Just keep following the plans I gave you…and play with all you’ve got!

God, the Father and Coach is reminding us of the same thing along with His assurance that His plan is a SURE THING! We win!

“Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse–some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back.” Hebrews 10, Msg

“SO don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. IT’S STILL A SURE THING! But you need to stick it out, staying, with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.

‘It won’t be long now, he’s on the way’ he’ll sow up most any minute. But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust; if he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy.’

But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.” Hebrews 10, Msg

I can just hear the emotion of the writer as he pens these words to us that stir our very souls! Be encouraged! We DO win in the end!

Dear Heavenly Father, Your words speak life and encouragement to our hearts, minds and souls because we love you so much. All of us in You and You in all of us. What a beautiful thought to go to church and teach your Word to little K kids this morning. Your words put a smile on our faces and hope and lift to our steps as we follow You still and always. We love You, Lord! Thank you for your salvation, provision, protection and blessings galore and undeserved! We praise You, O Lord, our Coach for Life!
In Jesus Name, Amen

THE PERFECT CLEANSING!.

THE PERFECT CLEANSING!

I have a carpet with spots. Don’t we all? I scrub and scrub and the the spots go away…for a little while…then they seem to reappear. The only way to rid them forever is probably buy new carpet. 

I also have a memory with spots. Try as I might, I try to erase that memory of past failures and missteps, hurts by others and mostly my own disappointments I have caused my Father in Heaven. I sometimes replay those “spots” in my mind…just like a human video recording. When I cater to those “spots” in memory, I am hampering and my wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ who took those spots away…forever! When I talk to Him about those spots…He doesn’t even know what I am talking about! He cleansed the spots so perfectly and completely that they are GONE…from HIS memory! So they should be gone from my memory. 

BE ENCOURAGED TODAY…

“As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people.“ Hebrews 10, Msg

“So, friends, we can now–without hesitation–walk right up to God, into ‘the Holy Place.’ Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God.” Hebrews 10, Msg

“SO, LET’S DO IT–full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Hebrews 10, Msg

So, don’t give up!

“If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgement–and a mighty fierce judgement it will be!” Hebrews 10, Msg

Seriously, stop replaying your spotty memory, your short comings! Be completely cleansed. Go and sin no more. The slate as been wiped clean! All your spots are removed, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ! Never to return again! Breathe in these thoughts and be encouraged! Breathe out the world’s view of things, YOUR view of things and breathe in the power of God’s Holy Spirit! 

Yes, Give yourself a break and get on with the abundant life Jesus Christ died for you to have. Hurting people hurt people. Cleansed people smile and bring hope and life to others! If we forgive our hurts made by ourselves and others, we can move on to His glory! We can go and hopefully sin no more! But if and when we do sin as imperfect people, stop and turn yourself around, ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart, one that does not want to return again to the “scene of the crime”, or sin.

“…What do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit?” Hebrews 10, Msg

We do that when we keep revisiting our sin and sin again,,,in the same ways, without a thought to grow up and stop the madness. We also grieve His Spirit when we keep going over past hurts and sins, without forgiveness and/or letting it go…so we may grow.

“This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: ‘Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing,” and, “God will judge his people.” Nobody’s getting by with anything, believe me.” 
Hebrews 10, Msg

What a relief! We don’t judge people! That’s a load off our plate! We take care of our own sins, once and for all, forever! We can walk right into the throne room of God right now, with Jesus Christ as our advocate and be cleansed. A Perfect Cleansing. 

There’s more to come…so let’s take care of business with God right now…

Dear Heavenly Father, 
We are encouraged by Your Word on this quiet Saturday morning in July. We are encouraged by acknowledging and accepting your Perfect Cleansing, making us “spot-free”! Your Word also makes us stop and think about the wasted times of recalling past hurts and sins. We do not want to “spit on” Your complete cleansing of us. We want to go and sin no more and not recall the past. We love you with all our heart, mind and soul. We cannot praise you and thank you enough for your, once and for all, salvation. 
In Jesus Name, Amen!

HEBREW HERITAGE TO THE REALITY OF RELATIONSHIP.

Many, many years ago, in Randy’s first pastorate of a “turnaround church” project, a dozen of us embarked on a seemingly impossible task…to call everyone in the community and simply ask if they had a church to attend. We receivedmany interesting answers but probably the most disturbingly interesting was “My mamma was Baptist, so I’m Baptist!”, which was not really what we were asking but his answer was very revealing. What he was really saying was, I don’t go to church and I don’t have a relationship with Jesus, but mamma belonged to a church so I should be okay. After asking another question, do you know Jesus, this is basically the response I received.

The writer of Hebrews is reminding the people of their heritage and what it required in the old covenant to give God honor and praise. He reminds them that in the old system, people could not just walk in on God…into the Holy of Holies. Not without the sacrifice of the blood of an animal for their behavior.

“But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and sent straight into heaven’s “tent”–the true Holy Place–once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all.” 

“If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out.”

“Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.”
Hebrews 9, Msg

Cleaned up! Inside and out! Living all out for God! Don’t you love that? This excites and encourages me today! How about you? Are you a Baptist, Methodist, Church of God, Presbyterian or whatever you happen to tag yourself, placing your faith on your heritage? OR accepting the freedom Christ brings and living all out for God. First. With a true, loving, perfect relationship that is forever? Our heritage does not save us. Jesus saves.

Don’t misunderstand. I go to church. I love and belong to God’s church, with a group of imperfect, but perfectly forgiven people. We work alongside each other to tell God’s story of love and forgiveness, both inside the building and out. But ultimately, my imperfect church did not save me. Jesus Christ, who was perfect, saved me, cleansed me, from the inside out, and encourages me to live all out for God! No matter where I am, what I do or where I go. I live and walk with God. First.

“He (Jesus) brought together God and his people in this new way.”
Hebrews 9, Msg

Dear Heavenly Father, What a reminder of Your love, mercy and grace! We love you…First! We want what You want. Thank you for speaking to our hearts with this encouragement this morning. 
Because of our love for you and your love for us, may we always follow you and help others accept and follow you.
In Jesus Name, Amen

FROM HAND TO HEART….

RELIGION TO RELATIONSHIP!

Hebrews – Learning to get out of the way

We have been learning to “get out of the way” and allow the work of Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and guide our minds and souls as we read prayerfully and carefully through Hebrews, using Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message. His explanation drives us to the heart of the matter today concerning the actions of Jesus, living IN us, the secret to abundant, eternal life.

Let’s play “what if” for a bit. What if I was handed a book about my husband when I decided to sign a paper to marry him that told me all about him? What if, I read the book, then put it on the shelf. I went on with life without talking to Randy, sharing life with him or even going anywhere with him? Sometimes if I wanted to be reminded of him…I just went to the book and refreshed my memory of him. But I never developed or grew into a relationship WITH him? That’s not a very loving marriage, isn’t it? Mmm. I would know of him, but I would not know him.

Okay. Now consider what God wants with us and provided for this to happen with the work of his Son, Jesus Christ. From a chiseled stone of rules in our hands, to a full relationship with Him in our hearts! Wow! 

The NEW plan…IN us! Be encouraged!

“This new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone; This time I’m writing out the plan IN them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called ‘God in Five Easy Lessons’. They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.” Hebrews 8, Msg

Because of the action of Jesus Christ, we can now go from mere rules to a holy, forever relationship with the One who loves us most and best! Hallelujah! Praise God for this Way out of our sins, wiping the slate clean..forever. We can talk with Him, walk with Him, share everything with Him. We can boldly come to His throne without reservation because of the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ on the Cross, paying off all our debt! This is cause for praise and worship. Don’t want until Sunday…do it now…as we walk and talk with Him!

Dear Heavenly Father,
I don’t know what I would do without our holy relationship and the love You have for me and I have for You. I love you with all my heart, mind and soul. And that causes me to have better, more loving relationships with others…as I love You. You are unconditional love. I learn to love and relate from You. Thank you for this lesson today. Now help us live it with You living in us.
In Jesus Name, Amen

A PERFECT FIT!.

Hebrews – Learning to get out of the way

We are all different shapes and sizes, aren’t we? When we go to try on clothes for a special occasion, it is sometimes stressful, because we want that perfect outfit, just the right attire that makes us feel good and look good at the same time. A perfect fit. Ah, hard to do, but worth the effort. When you find “it”, you want more and more of the same. I’m like that with shoes. When I find the perfect fit for my less than perfect feet, I want to buy a pair in every color. Less pain when a good pair of shoes fit perfectly.

As I read Hebrews this morning, we read about the long line of priests that never quite “fit”, never quite did the job right…in God’s eyes. God had a better way and plan. He sent the “Perfect Fit” to get the job done well, in the most excellent way. The Only Way.

“So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. 

He’s done it, once and for all: offered up HIMSELF as the sacrifice. The law appoints as high priests men who are never able to get the job done right. But this intervening command of God, which came later, appoints the Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect.” 
Hebrews 7, Msg

JESUS – The One and Only, The Way to a glorious perfect relationship with God, the Father of all who accept, believe and allow Jesus to be LORD of our lives! The PERFECT FIT! 

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you! Thank you for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who sits with you as our advocate, our high priest, that allows us to have a loving forever relationship with You. Thank you, just simply thank you. Help us to live this out this gratitude that we feel this morning. In Jesus Name, Amen

NEVER LET GO…OF GOD!.