Alone, serene with God

New Guest: Like this one, most entries are devotional. Those related to Car Biz can be located by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first entry, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I hope you'll record your responses as you read, since these entries serve best as the first remarks in a coversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will


Monday, May 3, 2010

Devotions: Ps 56, 57, 64, 65; Lev 16:1-22; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Mt 6:1-18

Lord, I need Your grace, for I am constantly assaulted by godless mortals. I put my trust in You, the Eternal One. I know that God is for me, and I am content. God will send from heaven and deliver me; He will put to shame those who seek to trample me. I abide in God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. I sing and make melody before the Holy One. Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness stretches to the skies. Let Your glory shine over all the earth. God will bring to naught the plots of the wicked; with dread deeds of might YHWH saves us; He is Master! How the earth praises Her Maker and Master; let the pastures and the wilderness, the hills and valleys, the meadows and mountains deck themselves in bounty and sing together for joy.

YHWH gave Moses instructions for Aaron: Let Aaron not come into the Holiest Place often, least he die, for I appear in a cloud upon the mercy seat over the ark. When he comes, let Aaron bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Let him don the linen coat and breeches, the linen belt and turban. Let him bathe in water before putting these on. And let him also bring as sacrifice for the congregation two male goats for sin and one ram as a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as sin offering for himself. He will place the two goats at the entry to the tent of meeting and cast lots over them—one for YHWH, one for Azazel. YHWH’s goat will be sacrificed, but the goat for Azazel will be presented alive before YHWH for atonement, then sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. Aaron will present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and thus atone for himself and his household. He will take a censer of coals from the alter before YHWH, and two handfuls of sweet incense ground small; he will put these within the veil and put the incense on the fire, so that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat over the testimony, lest he die. He will sprinkle some of the blood of the bull on the front of the mercy seat, and he will sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times before the mercy seat. Then, he will kill the goat of sin offering for the people; he will bring its blood within the veil and do as he did with the blood of the bull, on and before the mercy seat. Thus Aaron will atone for the uncleanness, sins and transgressions of the people of Israel , and for the tent of meeting in their midst. No other mortals may be in the tent of meeting from the moment Aaron enters to make atonement until after he has completed his priestly function and exited the tent. Then he will go out to the altar before YHWH and make atonement for it, using some of the blood of the bull and the goat, and put it on and before the mercy seat. Then, let Aaron present the live goat, and confess over it all the sins, iniquities and transgressions of the people; these he will put on the head of the goat, and a man selected for the purpose will lead the scapegoat into the wilderness and set it free there.

Paul writes the Thessalonians: I don’t want you to grieve like those who have no hope, concerning those who have fallen asleep: when the Lord comes, He will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and the sound of God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first; then, believers who are alive will be caught up together with the risen, into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words!

Jesus taught His followers: ‘Don’t practice piety in public so mortals see you, for then your heavenly Father will not reward you further. When you give alms, avoid the public show practices by the hypocrites, for the notice they receive is their only reward. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, when you give alms; let your charity be secret, and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you. Likewise when you pray: go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father Who is in secret, and He will reward you. You needn’t heap up phrases in prayer, as the Gentile do, thinking that their prayers will be preferred because they are articulate. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So pray like this: ‘Our Father Who Is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; forgive our debts as we have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ If you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you; if you don’t forgive mortals, neither will your Father forgive you. When you fast, keep it quiet; don’t disfigure yourself like the hypocrites; the notice they get from others is their only reward. Instead, when you fast, dress and groom yourself well, so that only God knows you are fasting, and your Father Who seeds in secret will reward you.