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Word Day 13 Chosen, Appointed, Loved, Persecuted

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 15:9-25
Luke 7:17-30
John 17:13-26
Isaiah 42:1-9

Word, Day 13

The heady scent of roasted lamb mingled with melting wax as the disciples gathered around the low table with Jesus for another Passover feast. Though familiar, something entirely other stirred as Jesus prayed, broke bread, and passed the cup.

They ate, He served them, then, in sweet intimacy, Jesus prayed words of life over His brothers, these chosen ones…

You did not choose me, but I chose you. (John 15:16)

Chosen
When I was eight, a recurring nightmare haunted me for 3 consecutive nights. In vivid detail, I watched a gunman murder me, but then, after multiple nights, I saw Jesus stand in the gap, dying the death intended for me. Jesus chose me to be His. He invited me to believe that, though my sin separated me from the holiness of God, He still chose to rescue me and pay for my sin.

Scripture is bursting with biographies of those God has chosen for Himself. He delights in transforming the ordinary and broken, the shame-filled and forgotten, into lives brimming with hope and purpose.

Abraham, who waited decades for God’s promise to be fulfilled, was chosen.
Isaiah, the most well-known prophet to Israel, was chosen.
Mary, the mother who carried the very Son of God, was chosen.

Each was called out, away from the life they’d once lived, awakened to a new existence and ushered in by the delightful choice of the God who longs for all to call Him Father.

I appointed you to go and produce fruit. (John 15:16)

Appointed
Those who sit with me in conversation long enough to hear my heart know I’ve repeated, “I just want my life to matter.” Maybe it’s that I’m racking up the birthdays, or because my oldest is leaving home. The scenes of my life keep shifting and I wonder over and over, “Does this matter?”

The same love that motivated the heart of God to choose me, also appointed me, and all who accept His invitation. He smiles with pleasure as He intentionally floods each chosen life with purposed appointing. He appointed me to school my kids, gather women to study Scripture, make yummy meals (and some that set off the smoke alarm), and walk alongside my husband.

Here’s the incredibly beautiful thing about being appointed by God. It’s as variegated as African dresses and yet as uniformly connected as the constant elements of our universe.
Your appointment looks different from mine.

Zacchaeus was appointed to give away his possessions.
Levi was appointed to invite his friends to dinner, so he could introduce them to Jesus.
John was appointed to preach a message of repentance in the wilderness.

All who answer God’s calling of being chosen are lovingly appointed to bear fruit for His kingdom. Every fruit, regardless of shape or color, is seeded with love.

This is what I command you: Love one another. (John 15:17)

Loved
We’d been married for seven years and were tanking fast. My husband was pursuing his dream of seminary, and I was fighting demons from my abusive past. In the midst of my self-hatred and spurning of God, my husband announced he was leaving seminary to fight for me. He said he had no plans to return; that I was more important. What manner of love didn’t expect my perfection, but just loved?

No disciple of Jesus escapes His mighty call to allow love to color every aspect of life. Pouring the cereal, changing the diaper, shopping for groceries, arguing with your spouse, listening to a friend, going to church, making coffee.
All of it has been designed as an act of worship, of love.

When Jesus overturned tables, pleading others to know the heart of God, He loved.
When Paul surrendered his position to become an itinerant preacher, he loved.
When Lydia opened her home to missionaries, she loved.

Every one of Christ’s disciples were chosen and appointed to lead lives of lavish love.

If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:18)

Persecuted
It’s not popular, this dying to self. Strange, isn’t it, that true, authentic, in-the-dirt-with-you love also carries the risk of ridicule. When we stand for the unjustly treated, when we invest in friendships with those of a different skin color, when we invite the trans-gender to dinner, when we sit at the bar with the promiscuous and hear their story, mainstream Christianity pulls back their religious garments in “righteous” outrage.

To follow Jesus is to fling wide the door of persecution, and understand that being chosen, appointed, and loved, means that suffering is worth it.

The faithful eleven who sat around Jesus that Passover night would all be persecuted for their faith. As they championed the kingdom work of spreading the news that God chooses, appoints, and loves, they would feel the knife of persecution.

But none felt it as deeply as Christ Himself.
All who follow Jesus with their whole lives are each chosen, appointed, loved, and persecuted, because Jesus was first.

This (Jesus) is my servant; I (God the Father) strengthen Him,
this is my chosen one; I delight (love) in Him. (Isaiah 42:1)
I will appoint You to be a covenant for the people. (Isaiah 42:6)
He (Jesus) was pierced (persecuted) because of our (humanity’s) rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5)

Sister, you, are chosen by the Christ who sacrificed Himself for you.
The God who crafted the color of your eyes has appointed you for good kingdom work.
The Jesus who sat at the Passover feast, sits with you now in the middle of your mess to say you are loved.
This same God knows that following Him results in persecution because it isn’t popular to love like Him. But He promises to fill you with His Spirit, strengthen you, and sing over you, “Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)

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Questions Day 11 Why Pray?

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Genesis 3:8-13
Jeremiah 29:12-14
Jeremiah 33:2-3
Psalm 145:14-21

Questions, Day 11

What is the point of praying if God already knows everything?
The simple answer?
Relationship.

As early as the Garden of Eden where God handcrafted humanity and set them in Beauty itself to enjoy each other, their surroundings, but most of all Himself, we see God inviting His creation into relationship with Him.

How do we know?

Even though He knew the answers (because He is all-knowing (Psalm 147:5)), He still asked Adam and Eve questions.

The Scene in Eden….
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (because they had sinned)

God Asks….
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

Adam’s Reply…
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

God Asks….
He said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Adam’s Reply….
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

God Asks….
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”

Eve’s Reply….
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” Genesis 3:8-13

Intentionally, carefully, with precise accuracy, the Lord engages Adam and Eve.
Not to shame them.
Not to flaunt His holiness before them.
Not to smite them with thunderbolts.
But to show them who they were in relationship to Himself.

God is omniscient.
Meaning He knows everything. (Psalm 139:1-6)
He knows the present, past and future. (Isaiah 46:9-10)
He knows what each person thinks and feels. (1 John 3:20)

Despite knowing every detail, He intentionally asked questions of Adam and Eve.
He asked questions to engage their hearts, stirring them to depth and intimacy with Himself, the only One who could ever satisfy them.

I recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my husband.
Marriage has been a very humbling journey thus far. I have learned a lot about myself and my husband, but the biggest lesson we’ve learned is how to communicate.

Before getting married, we thought we knew all about communicating with each other, but as our marriage began, we struggled with significant miscommunication and misunderstanding. About 4 months into marriage, clarity broke through when my husband was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Shortly after his diagnosis, a counselor helped us learn how to communicate with each other. In these sessions, we discovered we both spoke entirely different languages because we process language and social interaction quite differently. In order to make our marriage work, we would need to learn the other’s language.

While my husband and I both had to work hard and pursue each other to improve our communication, God is, and always has been, the One doing the pursuing.

In Eden, Adam and Eve didn’t walk around the Garden calling out for God, trying to get Him to talk to them and maybe forgive them. No, they ran and hid because of their sin and shame, but God, the Holy One, lovingly pursued and invited them to build a relationship through communication.

They were fully loved,
fully known,
and sought after as precious treasures.

Today, my husband and I are more deeply connected than ever before because we are finally able to talk.

That is what prayer is like!
It may feel strange at first, as if I was trying to learn Mandarin and my husband was trying to learn Portuguese, but the more you invest (because God first invited you! (1 John 4:19)), connection is built, and relationship deepens.
We know God, and we know too, that we are fully known by Him!
This is why we pray!

Prayer is a conversation with God, where He is completely present and fully engaged at all times, creating safety in being known.
It is unbridled.
It is unbarred.
It is untamed.
It is the place where we learn who God is, and who we are in light of Him.

In Jeremiah 29:12, He says He will listen to us.
In Jeremiah 33:3, He says He will reveal what we do not know.
In Psalm 145:18, He says He will be close to all who call on Him in truth.

Sisters, we take time out of our days to reach out to our friends and families via text, phone calls, email, or speaking face to face. These relationships are vitally important, but how much time are we investing in response to Our Heavenly Father’s invitation for relationship? Let’s choose today to begin deepening our communication with the One who has pursued us more than any other!

Know that the “why” behind prayer is solidly anchored
in His unconditional pursuant love for us!

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Relentless Day 14 Relentless Chase: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out Relentless Chase!

The Questions

1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?

2) What does it mean to be set apart and appointed?

3) What is the response to this verse?

Jeremiah 1:5

I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Original Intent

1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?
In verse 4 Jeremiah informs readers that the Spirit of the Lord came to him; what follows is his encounter with God, or more specifically, the calling of God on his life. In this call, we learn incredible details for the call on the life of every believer. God tells Jeremiah that, before he was formed in the womb, he was chosen, or known, by God. There is incredible intimacy described here! The God of the universe intimately and loving created Jeremiah as an infant, but He knew Jeremiah, and the plans He had for him, before that knitting together of his tiny body ever occurred. Matthew Henry says it better than I ever could, “(God) let him (Jeremiah) know He who gave him his commission is the same One that gave him his being, that formed him in the belly and brought him forth out of the womb, that therefore He (God) was his (Jeremiah’s) rightful owner and might employ him and make use of him as He pleased, and that this commission was given him in pursuance of the purpose God had purposed in Himself concerning him, before he was born.”

2) What does it mean to set apart and appointed?
God tells Jeremiah specifically what his role in the kingdom is, exactly what his purpose is. Jeremiah was to be a prophet to the nations. In this calling, God is informing Jeremiah, as well as commissioning him out into that role. It was time for Jeremiah to accept and embrace God’s call regardless of his age. In verses 8-10 we see more details of this appointment. God did not simply call Jeremiah and then leave him alone to figure everything out on his own. God also equips Jeremiah and gives him His words to share (verse 9).

3) What is the response to this verse?
God didn’t force Jeremiah into his calling. God simply invited Jeremiah into His divine plan. Jeremiah had a choice to make, would he step out in faith and embrace that calling or would he run the other way. In the Old Testament, God gives examples of both. Jeremiah chose to step into his calling, regardless of what it would look like in his life and the sacrifices it would mean for him. Jeremiah chose God right back. However, Jeremiah did not make this choice immediately. In Jeremiah’s account beyond this one verse, we learn Jeremiah thought he was too young and objected to his calling (verse 6).

Everyday Application

1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?
Just as Jeremiah was intimately known and called into a purposeful life, such is the calling for everyone who chooses to follow Christ. Matthew Henry says, “The great Creator knows what use to make of every man before He makes him. He has made all for himself.” Just as Jeremiah was known and chosen for a purpose before he was formed so are each of us. God has a plan and a design for every human being. He intimately and specifically crafts us in our mother’s womb with those purposes and plans in mind. He makes no mistakes. What that means for each of us is that we need to embrace this plan and design in order to realize our fullest delight and purpose. None of us look the same as another, and none of us play the exact same role in the Kingdom of God, but we all have a divinely ordained purpose, and it’s the perfect one for us!

2) What does it mean to be set apart and appointed?
Jeremiah was not the only person to be set apart and appointed by God. We see throughout Scripture God calling people into His purposes and appointing them to His work. He didn’t always appoint people in the same way, and He still doesn’t today. On a large scale, believers are all called and set apart to make disciples of all nations as Jesus appointed us in Matthew 28:19-20. This calling is for every single believer and God empowers and equips each of us to live out that calling. However, God goes about this work in different ways in each of us. God sets His people apart and appoints them to His purpose often utilizing the gifts unique to each believer while also using the different passions in each of us. Where might God be calling you to live out the purpose He has for you?

3) What is the response to this verse?
Just as a Jeremiah had a choice to make, so do we. God invites all of us to play a role in His greater story and we, like this Old Testament prophet, must choose whether we will say yes or whether we will choose fear and make excuses to not join God in His work. The Lord will never force us. He is not a God who wants to control us, rather He is a God who desires deep, intimate relationship with us. Just because He loves us and has purposed a plan for us doesn’t mean the call will always be easy, Jeremiah’s sure wasn’t, but it will always be worth it. It may take us out of our comfort zone, or to a place we never dreamed we would go, but when we choose to say yes and join in on God’s activity, it is always more than we could ever dream or expect. The choice is mine and the choice is yours… what will we choose? How can you live out that choice starting today?!

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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

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Our Current Study Theme!

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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

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Open Day 5 Hospitality That Loves

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Hebrews 13:1-2
Genesis 18
Matthew 10:40-42
Matthew 25:31-46

Open, Day 5

“Let brotherly love continue.
Don’t neglect to show hospitality,
for by doing this some have welcomed
angels as guests without knowing it.”

Hebrews 13:1-2, reminds us of an event that took place many centuries prior in the life of Abraham. The central truth being that generosity, more specifically hospitality,
is an expression of radical, sacrificial love.

In Genesis 18, the Lord appeared to Abraham. (check out some of his story here)
Abraham looked up and three men were in his presence.
Maybe Abraham had the intuition to know they were angels, but we know he “bowed himself to the ground” as was fitting for his eastern culture. (verse 2) Abraham, a man of influence, great wealth, and many servants, tells the visitors to wait while he prepares a place for them. Then Abraham “hurries” off to find his wife, Sarah, to make dinner for their guests. As they gathered under the spreading branches of oak trees, the Lord once again speaks to Abraham. This time, he explains how Sarah will have a son within a year.
No ordinary son, not a typical newlywed surprise. No. Abraham and Sarah had waited long for the gift of offspring, but now Sarah’s was simply too old to carry children. The blessing of a son, finally, was both outrageous and gleeful. (read Sarah’s story here!)

It’s easy to hurry through the story and focus on the miracle of the baby boy to come, but what we casually gloss over is the invitation.
Abraham and Sarah were blessed by what these men shared, but it was an encounter they would have missed if they had passed up simply being open with their food and tent.

I am 18 years old.
Hospitality looks a little different for me than Abraham and Sarah. I grew up in a home that was quickly turned into a home for others. On any given night, we have extra guests for dinner to this day. This example has affected me and taught me much over the years about living with invitational openness.

This past year as I have been away from home, I’ve discovered this bond and love with other families as well. I’ve been deeply marked and richly blessed because of other’s open invitation to participate in their home life. It’s something I desire so deeply to recreate in the way I treat others and invite them into my “home.”

Sometimes, I think that I get a “pass” for a couple more years on being open like this. That I don’t need to be concerned about hospitality until I’m married with a house and family of my own. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Our homes are certainly a great place to show hospitality,
but it’s not a requirement.

Flash forward, and we see how Jesus fully embodies living with openness.
I think of my Savior bending down to wash the filthy feet of His disciples or stopping mid-stride to engage a hurting woman, calling her daughter.

Jesus shows us that hospitality has more to do with authentic love than a tidy house. Showing people you have time for them, inviting them to feel welcomed, accepted and heard when they are around you. And we can do that anywhere.

Jesus’ example challenges us to look beyond the traditional thought of extending hospitality within the walls of a home. As a traveling preacher with nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58), He modeled hospitality along the way as He moved from town to town, and even in the homes of others.

About those physical spaces and living in the mindset of open….
As a single woman and almost college student, there’s something deeply spiritual for me about being invited in by a family.
It’s a sort of safe haven.

A place to soak up as much wisdom as possible.
Space to share a meal and stories of life.
Room to talk about things that matter or even play an intense game of UNO.
An invitation that sweetly declares, “I value spending time with you. I have prepared a place for you.”

Jesus gives us this convicting statement about extending hospitality to those who are vulnerable in Matthew 25:45,
“I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”

It can be so difficult to offer generous love to people we see as ‘least’ in any given situation. But we are called into it because it’s there where we love sacrificially like Jesus loves.

Something I’ve found really helpful when relating with people who are specifically challenging to love is asking this question to the Lord,
“Jesus, show me what you love about them.”

I use this question of the Lord to help shift my heart towards open when I engage with family, friends, or strangers when I sense my compassion lacking.
Every time, God shows me something in them that honors Him.
Then we can use those words to encourage their hearts, inviting them into an open space of love from the Savior.

Abraham and Sarah’s invitation unknowingly welcomed angels into their midst, not realizing what the conversation would reveal or how deeply they would be blessed.
We create spaces like this whether it’s a dorm room, community space, our home, or even in the words we choose to use with those we struggle to love.
We’re creating a place where people can gather, share real life, and experience Jesus’ love.

When we love through open hospitality,
we love like Christ!

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Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper!     And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey!    Comment Here!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Open Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

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Here’s a link to all past studies in Open!

The GT Weekend! Prayer Week 1

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) Having access to the Almighty is a huge honor! We have been invited in to a deep and personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. What emotions does that evoke? How do you respond? Who in your life needs to hear that they also have access to God through a relationship with Jesus?  

2) Open to Exodus 3:1-22. Read through it once in your head and once out loud. 

 Shape           Circle all the places that refer to God’s character.  

 _______  Underline the text that surprises you or makes you go “Hmmmmm”.  

  Shape      Use arrows to connect any places that connect to another portion in the passage. 
Share your findings with us below or email us at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com We would love to study together with you!  

3) In thinking of the end times, there is often much confusion, misunderstanding and even fear. One thing we know is that Jesus’s return is something that, as believers, we can anticipate to bring restoration, reunion and healing. Our pain-filled hearts long for those things now. How have you tasted those now? How can we be praying for God’s kingdom to be flowing on earth in even greater ways?  

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from     John 15:1-5  back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 

Prayer Journal

Lord God Almighty, You have allowed us to abide in You as we grow in the knowledge and understanding of who You are. That type of intimacy and depth is unbelievable; let us steward that invitation well, Lord. I think of my friend, Elizabeth. She needs to know this truth and I’m so nervous to share it with her. As we meet together in the next few weeks, embolden my heart to speak of Your truth wrapped in words of grace. Bring Your glory here to earth that she might see it, wonder who You are, and be ready to hear as I tell of Your holiness, Lord. Let us all see you more clearly and seek to know you deeper, Jesus!  

 

Worship Through Community

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Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Share how God spoke to you today!
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Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Tabernacle Day 15 Invitation

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Matthew 11:28-30
John 15:1-11
Ezekiel 37: 26-30
Psalm 91:1-2
Revelation 21:1-4 

Tabernacle, Day 15

“Hear ye! Hear ye! 
I hereby declare all the ladies in the land are invited to a royal ball!”

Remember the scene when the king’s courier arrives to deliver the invitation?
Of course, Cinderella is included, BUT her cruel stepmother has different plans: keeping Cinderella home, slaving away doing chores.
Thankfully, Fairy Godmother comes to the rescue and with the wave of a wand, turns pumpkins into a carriage and transforms torn rags into a magnificent gown.
Cinderella is instantly ready for the ball!  

We may not be Cinderella, 
but we are most certainly recipients of a royal invitation.  

Regardless of our background, ethnicity, economic status, hair color, or jean size,
we have EACH been invited to enter God’s throne room.  

Furthermore, our invitation requires no magic and isn’t limited to one night of dancing.
Rather, God has requested our presence with Him EVERY day.  

Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:17, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus…”  God wants to be part of EVERY aspect of our lives.  

In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the midst of His people as a cloud or a pillar of fire. (Exodus 13:21-22)
Under the Lord’s direction, the Israelites built a tabernacle that moved with them as they made their way from Egypt to Canaan through the desert. While everyone was able to enter the court of the tabernacle, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the curtained off area where the very presence of God rested.  Even then, the high priest only entered the Holy of Holies ONE day each year, to offer sacrifice for sin on behalf of the entire nation. This way of interacting with God via the priest continued for thousands of years…until Jesus came and changed everything! 

Jesus basically hand delivered God’s invitation to come dwell with Him;
He was God’s invitation in the flesh.
‘Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”’ (John 14:6) 

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus calls out to the weak and weary,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

 In John 6:35 Jesus beckons,
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” 

In John 7:37-38, Jesus reminds us that TRUE, meaningful, abundant life is found in Him alone, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

His invitation is for anyone and everyone! 

After delivering these divine invitations, Jesus then became the final sacrifice.
Just as the high priest in the Old Testament would offer a flawless lamb on behalf of the entire nation’s sin, Jesus, the flawless Lamb of God gave up Himself on our behalf, paying the price for our sins. (1 Peter 1:19)
As Jesus breathed His final breath from the cross, He declared, “It is finished”.
At that moment, the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom, as with the hand of the Almighty and not from man.
The Holy of Holies was now open to everyone, every single day of the year.
Jesus made it possible for us to PERSONALLY enter God’s presence! 

Jesus’ invitation still stands.   

If you have not yet welcomed Him into your life for the first time,
I encourage you to do so TODAY.  (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Jesus calls you to come as you are; He is waiting with open arms to lovingly embrace you. 

If you have already responded to Jesus’ invitation, I encourage you to keep studying Him!
There will always be more to know about His infinite love and character, which will result in your deeper growth and more beautiful transformation to become like Him. (Philippians 1:9)
Allow His Word to light your way. (Psalm 119:105)
Allow Him to equip you to do the good. (Ephesians 2:10)
Allow Him to empower you with His Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-17)
He wants to encourage you, (Philippians 2:1)
sing over you, (Zephaniah 3:17)
bless you with peace. (Psalm 29:11) 

He wants to be with you, present in every single aspect of your life, He is your everyday Savior! 

God’s invitation to sit in His presence doesn’t come via royal courier,
but rather in the real moments of everyday life. 

Perhaps it’s the beauty of a sunset, a connection with a friend, or even your snotty-nosed toddler, or the endless ways you feel overrun. Whatever the moment, even this one right now, know that God IS inviting you to be present with Him.   

It’s easy to push SNOOZE on this precious invitation.
I do it more than I would like to admit.
Don’t give in!

Hold onto the truth that whatever your day may hold,
God is inviting us to let Him into EVERY moment.
How will you RSVP?

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Tabernacle Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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