I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Yesterday we studying the above verse. There is so much meat on that verse's bone -so to speak. We are feasting on meat now and not milk, we are no longer babes but we've grown up into Christ, haven't we? We have to believe we will grow up, by the grace of God, into spiritual adults because we aren't supposed to forever remain babes needing feeding, needing milk.

Ultimately the above verse is telling us that our Savior is a MEDIATOR of a new covenant, the old one involved sacrificial services that included the sacrifice of animals. This new covenant only needed Jesus' blood, His blood being the only blood that could redeem us, blood that is holier than even Abel's, the first to die- murdered by his brother.

Continuing on...

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven

Remember this from just a short bit ago--

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Moses spoke upon earth. The people wanted Moses to speak to them, not God because they were afraid.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Now read this-

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven

They escaped NOT who refused him that spake on earth.

People did NOT escape the law through Moses. People were given the truth of God's love, a love that is so incredibly amazing, a love that is beyond them to know on their own. They were shown their sin- the reason for their separation from God and His love, and then shown a way to be reconciled as much as would be possible until the time for the Messiah would come.  No one escaped that life, no child of God, no chosen of God, no one whose heart went after the TRUE GOD.

And if NO one could escape from the ceremonial law of God, why does anyone imagine they can escape the voice of the Son of God, the heavenly voice of the Redeemer?

It's truly amazing that people have the audacity to NOT believe. They have the freedom of choice and they choose to disbelieve, they choose to look away, they choose a path of their own divination, they walk according to their own wills as if they had a hand in their own creation. NONE of us have created ourselves, not a single one of us had ANYTHING at all to do with our own creation!  NO ONE!  Not the smartest, not the dumbest, not the prettiest, not the ugliest, not the skinniest, not the fattest, not a single person has ever had a hand in their own creation. And, if not a single person has EVER had a hand in their own creation why do they imagine they were not created by God?  I know, I know there are all sorts of theories to explain away our existence, but none of them make complete sense except our being designed by a Creator as beings who could propagate. And each being that has a hand in creating another being does so only by the fact the original parent was created by God.

So I ask again, if no one could escape from the ceremonial law of God, why does anyone imagine they can escape the voice of the Son of God, the heavenly voice of the Redeemer?  Not a single one of us will escape the truth it confronts us all.  The heavenly voice of our Savior-- God becoming a Man-God; a Man-God dying, a Man-God resurrected, a Man-God to save all who would be saved, all who would be His, all who would know His love, all who would hear His voice and be known by Him.

His--

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

And by the grace of God we will study more tomorrow, feasting on the word of our Lord, filling our spiritual bellies full with the meat of His word, growing strong in the LORD.

All by HIS LOVE!

Jesus, our Mediator

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Truly this is a very amazing spiritual meal here. The spiritual meat here is very filling. To be able to discern between good and evil we must study, and study means more than merely read the words and let them pass over us. We have to study to … well, read this…

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study to show yourself approved unto God.
A WORKMAN who isn't ashamed.
RIGHTLY DIVIDING the WORD OF TRUTH.

A workman, we are workmen! We are working, and to NOT be ashamed we must study diligently because only by studying diligently can we divide the word of truth.  Dividing the word- comprehending the word of truth.

So let's take the above six verses and study them one by one, slowly.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus the MEDIATOR.  Jesus, God's Son, our Savior- a MEDIATOR.

me·di·a·tor
1. One that mediates, especially one that reconciles differences between disputants.

Pasted from

One who mediates.
One who reconciles.

1Ti_2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

Jesus the mediator, the reconciler- OUR mediator, yours and mine!

We comprehend this, don't we? We know we need Jesus Christ our Savior to reconcile us to God. We have all chosen self and sin over God and all of us are in need of forgiveness so we can be reconciled with God.  Jesus alone can reconcile us to God.

Continuing with the verse.. 'to the blood of sprinkling'

Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Blood used to purge sin, to make clean. The HEAVENLY things are purged not with the blood of animals but the BLOOD of the SON of GOD!

We have to realize that our Savior changed things by His death.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus' blood is better than any other blood ever shed. The most innocent of human beings whose blood is spilled cannot measure up at all to Christ's blood. Forever the human beings have tainted their blood by sin. The son of our first parents, a good son, a son that pleased God in His devotion and in His sacrifice to God- a son with innocent blood, righteous blood. 

Mat_23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

As innocent as Abel was, as innocent as any human being can be, His blood was no match to the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus our mediator of the new covenant.  The NEW covenant. No longer were people to be under the ceremonial law, the ceremonial covenant that pointed to the Savior who would make perfect that which NO man can make perfect.  Once our Savior's blood was shed, no other blood has EVER been needed to be shed. Not a single drop of animal blood signified anything any longer.  The only sacrifice ever needed would be Christ's.

Remember this…

Psa_51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Truly God want us to be HIS and we can only be HIS through Jesus Christ our Mediator who shed His innocent blood, blood that is more worthy than any other blood.  A price paid so we could be reconciled to God once more.

This is what it is ALL about, a reconciliation between God and man.  God and man together as intended, with LOVE.

Please LORD, help us to comprehend Your love for us in the perfect Sacrifice of Your Son! We are not worthy and can never be worthy, Jesus and Jesus alone is worthy. 

More on this tomorrow ALL by the grace of our SAVIOR!

Help us LORD, help us to understand, to comprehend all we need to comprehend in YOU.

We would love as You would have us love. Please, Lord, all by YOUR GRACE and MERCY, all by YOUR LOVE!

The Living God

Today's spiritual feast is going to include history.

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

We are being told that we are not in the same circumstances as God's chosen people were in the days following their escape from slavery.  Physical slavery, spiritual slavery, both.  Today most of us are NOT living as captives of others. We have a freedom that those who are slaves of others do not. Moses by God's hand freed God's people.  Here we read that we are not like those slaves. It isn't Moses who has brought us spiritual freedom but our Savior.  We are not being called into a situation filled with fear. We are not being called into a situation where we can claim we really don't know the Lord's will, the Lord's way.  We know and have known, we come with the history of knowing God's will. With all that history we are not like those slaves newly freed from Egyptian rule, slaves who knew of the faith of their forefathers, slaves who knew there was a prophesized deliverer, but beyond that not incredibly much. These slaves would be delivered and taught.  The result of all that teaching produced a people who could know God.  However, people are hard hearted, people are in love with their evil, even God's chosen people often choose to worship self over God.

God's plan wasn't for just a lull in evil, but an end to all evil while saving the humanity that He created, the humanity that He intended to exist.

Every step of the way the end game has always been in mind.

We live in a time beyond  focusing  on the earthly Jerusalem.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

We are come to the heavenly Jerusalem.
We are come to mount Sion.
We are come to the city of the living God.
We are come to an innumerable company of angels.
We are come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.
We are come to God the Judge of all.
We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect.

We are come to JESUS.

We are come to the TRUTH.

We are come to SALVATION ETERNAL.

We have been brought to the WAY, the full WAY.

Imagine it, we are living in a time of knowing God. 
We do NOT live in a time of shadows but of revelation. 

We are come to the SPIRITUAL truth!

Think about it, we don't have a God who has hidden truth from us, a God who leaves us guessing His will. Our God has made His way plain before us.

We are blessed to know His will, blessed to know His way.

More tomorrow all by HIS WILL, HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE!

Profane and rejected

Spiritual feasting on the word of our God.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Fornicator, or profane person- as Esau.

Esau, let's learn about Esau.

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
Gen 25:26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and ESAU WAS A CUNNING HUNTER, A MAN OF THE FIELD; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and ESAU came from the field, and he  WAS FAINT:
Gen 25:30  And ESAU SAID TO JACOB, FEED ME, I PRAY THEE, WITH THAT SAME RED POTTAGE; FOR I AM FAINT: THEREFORE WAS HIS NAME CALLED EDOM.

Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

Gen 25:32  And ESAU SAID BEHOLD I AM AT THE POINT TO DIE AND WHAT PROFIT SHALL THIS BIRTHRIGHT DO TO ME?

Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and HE SWARE UNTO HIM AND HE SOLD HIS BIRHTRIGHT UNTO JACOB.

Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and HE DID EAT AND DRINK AND ROSE UP AND WENT HIS WAY, THUS ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

*******

Now let's fast forward to this…

Heb. 12:16- ... Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Clearly Esau was WRONG to sell his birthright for food and drink.  We all know what it means to be extremely hungry, don't we? Yet there are something's that aren't worth giving into even if it means we die, right?

Let's think about that for a moment.

What are some of the things you don't do in fact, you die before you do them? 

Murder someone.  Right? You don't kill someone ever, you die first, right?

You don't torture someone, right?

I mean we've all, or most of us, have seen horror movies about people being driven to do awful things to each other all in the name of self survival. 

It's easy to NOT be in the situations and say what we would and would not do. Get into the situation and then you know what's what. But we don't want to be put in those situations just to see either. We have to look at others situations and try and learn from them. We can't be boastful and imagine we'd do better, we can however hope and pray that we will do the right things.

Would you sell your house to someone for a bowl of food? You might if you were starving, right? What good is a house if you're not alive to live in it?  A birthright was something more than a material possession though, right?

birthright [ˈbɜːθˌraɪt]
n
1. privileges or possessions that a person has or is believed to be entitled to as soon as he is born
2. the privileges or possessions of a first-born son
3. inheritance; patrimony

Pasted from

A privilege  OR possessions a person is entitled to by birth, an inheritance.

What was Esau's birthright?  It was a privilege, it was an honor. If you give away your position of privilege you are placing yourself beneath the one who takes that position. Esau put himself second to Jacob. 

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Esau was a profane person. Profane.
pro·fane
prəˈfān,prō-/
adjective
adjective: profane
    1.
relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious.
2.
(of a person or their behavior) not respectful of orthodox religious practice; irreverent.

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Esau was more secular than religious.
Esau cared more for things other than God.

All who CHOOSE to embrace a sinful life are profane.  All who CHOOSE sin over God, all who CHOOSE self over God, are like ESAU.  Esau cared so little for God and the things of God, including the inheritance He knew was His through His father Jacob, His grandfather Isaac, and His great grandfather Abraham. His inheritance into a family of GOD was impressive, it was amazing, it was something irreplaceable, NOT something to be squander for a bit of food! Esau's birthright was to become the head of the family of God's chosen people and He tossed it aside.

We are all called to into the family of God! Every single one of us are called to be in God's family and yet so many of us will just throw that all away as if it doesn't matter at all whatsoever!  Is it any wonder we are told NOT to be like Esau?

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

After Esau sold his birthright HE WAS REJECTED.

Esau rejected GOD and as a result, was rejected by GOD.

God does NOT and WILL NEVER force any one of us to accept HIM!  And if we choose NOT to accept Him, He is NOT going to accept us. He will NOT force Himself upon us!

People strangely want to believe that He will do just that. People want to believe that God will accept them, that He will drag them into His kingdom but He won't! He will reject us. We can be rejected. Remember-

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God

We can FAIL of the grace of God!

Esau mourned what he'd done, he tried to repent, he cried to be able to repent- but it just wasn't in him to do so.  He regretted what he'd done to the point of tears, but he NEVER sought GOD, he never turned to God. He rejected God and God rejected Him. He never desired to be God's. He wanted all the importance that went with his inheritance, but He did NOT want to be God's.

We have to desire GOD!

We have to seek GOD!

We have to put self last, not first!

We have to examine our lives and in doing so, PUT GOD FIRST!

And we can ONLY do this by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Please LORD we would be YOURS! By YOUR LOVE.

Root of bitterness

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

Remember yesterday we talked about looking diligently.  We discussed how it takes EFFORT to look diligently. We discussed how important it is for us to truly be diligent about our spiritual walk with Christ.  We can't take our spiritual walk lightly!  We can't, we truly can't.  Or rather, we can but only to our own detriment, our eternal detriment.

Maybe these studies are my attempt to feed my Spiritual self, and maybe you'll use them to help you feed spiritually too, but ONLY through the Holy Spirit guiding us and opening our hearts and minds to all truth.

We need to dig deep for full comprehension.  We are told to 'look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God' . We are told to look diligently 'lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you.'

Root of bitterness.

Deu 29:18  Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood

A root that beareth gall and wormwood.

A poisonous root, a bitter root.

A root of bitterness, a poisonous root, something that destroys, something that kills.  Anything that would kill us spiritually must be avoided, not embraced, not ignored, not wished away but seriously avoided. Too often we allow ourselves to overlook evil, right?

We have to be able to discern between good and evil this is what growing up into Christ is all about, discerning, and that discernment through the grace of Christ, through the power of Christ allowing us to choose good over evil.

Roots of bitterness spring up-troubling us-and then defiling us.

Roots of bitterness poisoning us, killing us.

We have to look diligently LEST we are poisoned!

What sort of poison? What are the roots of bitterness?

After reading Deuteronomy 29:18 it's clear that turning our hearts from the LORD our God is a root of bitterness and serving false gods is a root of bitterness.

We turn our hearts from the LORD our God whenever we disobey Him, don't we? When we embrace and welcome sin we are turning our hearts from God. We have to call evil - evil and good - good. We can't allow ourselves to be deceived!

Look at your life, look at it and try to see any evil in it you might be clinging to, evil that you've grown accustomed to.   We must look and look diligently, if we don't… we will fail of the grace of God.

What are the roots of bitterness surrounding us? What are they? Are they there? Is there anything that would keep us from our Savior? Anything?  Is there anything we put in the place of our Savior?  We must ask ourselves these questions and get honest answers because if we don't we are purposely allowing ourselves to be blind. 

Please LORD help us! Give us the discernment we need! We don't want any roots of bitterness to spring up and trouble us, defile us.  Please LORD save us from ourselves!  Please.

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE!

Pick up your spiritual fork

Shall we feast some more…. pick up your spiritual forks and knives and dig in. By the grace of our Lord we will be well fed.

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God...

Looking DILIGENTLY.

If I tell you to look diligently what exactly am I telling you to do?

Dictionary definition-

dil·i·gent  (dnt)
adj.

Marked by persevering, painstaking effort.

Pasted from

Did you read that?  Looking with effort painstakingly, persevering! 

Does that mean you should do this half-heartedly? Does it mean you should put very little effort into this?  I'm just trying to get the REAL meaning here, not the one we gloss over as we read Bible verses and nod and smile to ourselves telling ourselves they're nice verses and then we go away having not been fed by them at all.  It's true! We read but we are not EATING.  Or we are eating but we are NOT digesting!  We don't even know what we are putting into our spiritual mouths beyond that it's spiritual food. We think gulping it down, swallowing without tasting, eating it as if it is just empty spiritual calories holding no sustenance whatsoever that we are spiritually feasting but we are not!  So what if you've filled your spiritual belly to the fullest if you've not taken the time to savor and truly taste each and every bit of the spiritual food you are feeding on.  It does no good to read the entire Bible and learn nothing from it, no good at all. The words can go in and just as soon as they've gone in they can disappear as well and in the next moment you remember nothing.

We need to look diligently!  Our effort has to be painstaking and persevering! 

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God

We need to look diligently as we are following PEACE with all men, because if we don't we may FAIL of the grace of God!

People hear the words - grace of God and believe that no matter what it's theirs.  If that's true how can this statement be truth as well? How can anyone fail of the grace of God?

You can fail of it, you really can and this is truly FOOD for thought, isn't it?

Again, I have to mention that spiritual food isn't sweet honey and chocolate, it can be castor oil and hot sauce.  It's not going to go down smoothly all the time, it's meant to open our spiritual eyes so we can discern good and evil and that isn't something that is pleasant. It is especially not pleasant for us when our eyes are opened to see that some cherished behavior we have is really an evil behavior. Remember, we like to call evil good and good evil, but our eyes will be opened by the Holy Spirit if we choose to believe and have faith in God for ALL things.  When we eat the bitter food and realize we are standing on sinking sand we are meant to realize that we must cling to Christ for our salvation. We must repent of that evil we've been allowed to see, and repent daily if need be, seeking forgiveness.  The repentance has to be a real repentance though, not some habit we've formed admitting to our wrongs but truly not intending to make any effort to stop them. 

If we are impatient by nature we must repent of that nature and seek to cultivate patience all with Christ's help. If we are shown our impatience over and over, day by day, we must each and every time feel the remorse it calls for- not just shrug it off, not just give up, not when the chastisement is the spiritual fire purifying us.  Remember this--

Heb_12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

We aren't supposed to enjoy being chastised, but we are supposed to realize that we are being taught. We are being shown. We are being guided. 

Children often rebel against chastisement. Adults who are chastised have a better chance to learn from it than a child.  Still, adults can take offense when they are chastised and they too can rebel against it, but they have more maturity to look for the reason for the chastisement, looking beyond the initial emotional injury of being chastised.  Remember, it's not pleasant now but it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.  Get that, PEACEABLE fruit of righteousness and we are to what… follow peace with all men.  If we are exercised by the chastisement, if we learn from it we have hope.  We can choose not to be exercised by the chastisement- despising it, rebelling against it, but that will only lead to our failing of the grace of God.  It is most assuredly the grace of God that works in us as we are being exercised by chastisement.

Please Lord, please help us to accept Your chastisement, help us to be exercised by it, help us to follow peace with all men, bless us Lord, keep us in YOU always. We are wretched, poor, blind, and naked, and we need YOU for everything! We need YOU in us making us NEW in YOU.

Thank you, Lord, for the spiritual feast You prepared for us tonight, please let it nurture us as we need it so desperately to do.

All by YOUR LOVE!

A bitter spiritual feast

Spiritual Feasting.

Let's have a spiritual feast, by the grace of our Lord.  May the Holy Spirit guide us to all truth...

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

The spiritual feast before us is meant to nourish us spiritually. We need to be able to discern between good and evil and all our spiritual feasting is geared towards that end.

We are told here to follow peace with all men. Something that sounds simple enough but when we get right down to it, we have to realize that all the contentions we call NORMAL are really NOT NORMAL at all. We've learned to call evil good, remember? So now we need to be reminded by our Lord and Savior what evil is truly evil and what good is truly good.  As I mentioned, we call all our petty little spats good- we call them healthy and tell ourselves it's better than holding all the anger inside. We bicker and pick at each other as a way of life and call it love because in truth no one would ever have this warped thing we call love if we believed that contention and all the annoyances were detrimental and something to avoid. 

ALL those nitpicking nasty nuisances, all those tiny snide remarks, each one is WRONG! They aren't cute, they aren't sweet, they are NOT terms of endearment that we've come to pretend that they are.  We lie to ourselves and call them good but the truth is out there for us to realize. The truth is that all contention from the tiniest bit to the biggest is not peaceful.  We are not following peace with someone we are belittling. We are not following peace with someone we are answering cockily. The tone of our voice revealing our feelings at the moment can show more than our words.  Saying the words 'I love you' with a nasty tone doesn't reveal love at all.

Peace.

We need to recognize that our lives are filled with things that are not PEACEFUL and in recognizing that- we need to beg for forgiveness and repent of that behavior, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us into peace, true peace with all men.  We can't simply accept our inherent nastiness and label it good and acceptable. We must be allowed to see all our evil so that we may cling to Christ's goodness.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, more feasting spiritually.  What we might taste is bitter and hard to swallow, but if it nourishes our spirit that's all that really matters.

All by the grace, the love of Jesus Christ, always!  All praise, all honor, all glory, all thanksgiving to God!