Consecration, Vigilance and Prayer

Tuesday, May 27, 2014 Devotions: Ps 61, 62, 68:1-36; Lev 16:20-34; 1 Th 5:1-11; Mt 6:7-15 Hear my cry, Lord! Hearken to my prayer and answer. Let me live in Your tent forever, sheltered by Your wings, by Your almighty power and holy love, for I am weary and my heart is faint. Use the life You give to do Your will through me. My soul seeks God alone, my only Rock, my one Salvation. My hope, my faith is from God, and I will not be shaken, for it is His strength, not mine, that sustains me. Everyone: trust Him at all times, in all circumstances. All mortals alike are fog on the glass, dust in the wind. Turn from extortion and graft; don't set your hearts on earthly riches. For power belongs to God alone, and so do steadfast love and faithfulness. Our God has redeemed us, and He will keep us forever. So let God, the Almighty, the Judge, arise and scatter all enemies; and let the righteous rejoice in His victory, jubilant with joy. Sing to God; sing His praises, Who Is Father to the orphan, Husband to the widow, Provider to the destitute. He brings showers of blessings, winds of change, billows of mercy—all nature responds to His Presence. Praise our God! YHWH gave Moses instructions concerning Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement: the High Priest would enter the Holiest Place only once a year, only with blood, bathed, dressed in holy garments. He would sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering; and he would take from the people two goats and one ram for a burnt offering. He would sacrifice the bull for his own sins and those of his family; then he would present the two goats and cast lots over them: one would be for YHWH, and one for Azazel; the first, the priest would offer as a sin offering to YHWH; the second would be the scapegoat, carrying the sins of the people into the wilderness to Azazel, an evil spirit or desert demon. He would take a censer of coals from the altar, and two handfuls of incense, and burn these before the Lord, to conceal the mercy seat atop the Ark of God; and he would sprinkle the bulls before the mercy seat. Then he would sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and bring that blood also into the Holiest Place, sprinkling it on and before the mercy seat, and outward to the tent of meeting, and for the altar before the Lord, putting blood on the horns of the altar. When he has completed atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he will present the live scapegoat. The High Priest lays both hands on the goat and confesses to God the sins of the people, then send the goat into the wilderness, led by a man consecrated for that task; and the man will release the goat in the wilderness and return to the camp. Then the High Priest would re-enter the tent of meeting, put off the linen garments, and leave them there, and bathe in a holy place, dress in his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, atoning for himself and for the people. He will burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. And the one who lead the scapegoat out to Azazel will wash his clothing and bathe in water, and then he may re-enter the camp. The bodies of the sacrificed bull and goat for the sin offering would be carried outside the camp and burned entirely with fire. And then the one who does the burning will wash his clothing and bathe, and may re-enter the community. This is an everlasting statute, to be performed on the 10th day of the seventh month; the people will afflict themselves and abstain from all work—it is a day of atonement, to make the people clean before the Holy One; it is a Sabbath of solemn rest; and the priest shall perform the acts God commanded, atoning for himself, his family, all priests and all the people. Moses did what YHWH commanded. Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonika: You need no instructions concerning special days and seasons; you know that the Day of the Lord will come unexpected and unseen, like a thief in the night. People will be congratulating themselves, saying 'There is peace and security.' But sudden destruction will befall them, as labor pains assail a woman with child; and there will be no escape. Brothers and sisters, you are not in the dark, that His Day should surprise you like a thief. You are children of the Light; children of the Day! We are not of the night or the darkness. So then: don't nod off, as others do; remain alert and sober. Sleepers and drunks sleep and drink at night. Since we belong to the day, let us remain sober; let us put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation. God has not destined us for wrath, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, Who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep, we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are doing. Jesus taught: When you pray, don't heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do; 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 it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into times of trial or temptation, but deliver us from the evil one and all evil. For if you forgive mortals who sin against you, your Father in heaven will forgive you; if you will not forgive others, neither will the Father forgive your trespasses.