Hebrews 10 Written on my Heart and Placed in my Mind

As I dozed on the living room couch waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing my eagerly awaited cup of morning coffee the words “Hebrew 10: 11” came to my mind.  The thought was very clear.  I knew that I had to read that verse and find out what God wanted me to learn.  I reached for my bible even before getting my first cup of coffee.  I opened the New Testament to Hebrews 10.  Verse 11 didn't make much sense in and of itself so I put it into its context by reading the verses before, after, and then the entirety of Hebrews 10.  I know that Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter.  Hebrews 10 prefaces the examples of the faithful lives recorded in Hebrews 11. 

Hebrews 10 showed me that God established the second as He took away the first.  Hebrews 9:26 says that God appeared to the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.   Hebrews 10:9 and 10 tell us that once and for all we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Christ said to God, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God”.  God, through His redemptive plan, His Son’s death and resurrection, took away the first, the Law, to establish the second, GRACE through Christ.

In the first, in the Old Testament, “the priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”, Hebrews 10:11.  In the New Covenant, the second, Christ gave His life once and for all to bear the sins of many.  I could picture the "ark of the covenant of Yahweh".  The people could only approach the Holy of Holies up to the veil which separated them from the Holy of Holies where only the priest could enter.  For sin atonement the people would come back year after year to offer their sacrifices of bulls and goats.  It was a temporary atonement.  The people still had the consciousness of their sins and knew they would have to return in the future to repeat their sacrifices over and over again. 

Hebrews 10: 19 and 20 gave me a new understanding of the veil of the Ark of the Covenant.  As God’s people, we now have the boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, “By a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil that is His flesh”.  My opened spiritual eyes could see the veil of the covenant being rendered in two as Christ’s body hung on the cross rendering all other sacrifices powerless to atone for our sins.  His flesh IS that Veil which now makes us able to come directly to the Father, entering into the Holy of Holies through Christ.  This was God’s plan all along.  The law and sacrifices, “having a shadow of the good things to come” could never permanently erase our sins.  In verse 7 Christ said, “Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written about Me - to do Your will, O God”.  God’s plan of redemption is seen throughout the Old Testament, the book which Christ is referring to.  Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament and reading about fulfilled prophesies increases and grows my faith.  Knowing biblical history and learning about the lives of the people in the Old Testament help to give me a better understanding of who God is, what his promises are, and how He is directing my life.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Jesus Christ is the final sacrifice, the final atonement for our sins.  Ephesians 2:8 tells us that “It is by Grace that we are saved, through faith, and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God”.  Christ has set us free from the law and our own works.  We could never be good enough or offer enough of our own sacrifices to atone for our own sins.  Christ IS God’s plan.  In God’s mercy, Jesus’ life was sacrificed for us on the Cross of Calvary.  By God’s Grace alone are we saved when we believe.  The Holy Spirit teaches us and convicts our hearts.  We do have free will.  We have to choose to believe and receive God’s gift of faith.  Romans 10: 9 thru 13 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, ‘whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’.  For there is no distinction between Jew or Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.  ‘For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”

Call on Him.  He will hear you.  You will never be the same.  Christ has done it all.  All you have to do is choose to believe.  Your faith will go from a head knowledge to a heart knowledge.  You will be made new as the Holy Spirit fills you with His love, peace, and joy.  Just say, “yes I believe”, the Spirit will do the rest.  As we read in Romans, you must tell someone of your decision.  Confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart and you will experience God’s gift of Faith and Salvation. 

I know that God gave me this message today.  He knows who reads my blog.  I want Him to use me to sow His seeds into someone’s life.  The rest is between you and God.  He will help you to grow in wisdom and understanding.  I am excited about what God can do and will do in each of our lives.  May we all grow spiritually as we continue on our individual faith journeys.  We are part of the “Family of God” and we are children of The King.  We enter into His Kingdom the moment we believe.  In His Kingdom our spiritual ears and eyes are opened and we see life more completely; not just as we did when only in the physical world system.  Physically, we live in the world but spiritually we enter into a greater understanding and deeper dimension in our life when God is a part of who we are.  Let us live in anticipation of what the Father will be doing in each of our lives as we grow in Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit.          

Worshipping God and Fellowshipping with Other Christians

I attend church each Sunday to come before my Creator in worship and praise.  I look forward to being with other believers who get together in one accord, with one mindset, for a unified purpose.  We gather together to meet with our Savior and other Christians to worship God together in song, prayer, statement of faith, and in offering of ourselves and our gifts.  I come to learn about God and His Word, the Bible.  The more I learn, the more my faith grows, and the closer I come into relationship with my Lord.

I have had a relationship with God from childhood.  I have never attended church because of a sense of obligation or because I had to go.  I have always loved going to church.  I meet God there but when I am unable to go, for one reason or the next, God does not condemn me with a sense of guilt for not meeting Him there.  He knows my heart and meets me where I am. 

My physical life is a journey and so is my spiritual life.  I am not the same person physically that I was 70 years ago.  I am also not the same as I was spiritually as a child.  My spiritual journey has progressed from a spiritual birth and baby faith into a mature ever growing faith in God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I want to continue to know God better and to have a deeper relationship with Him.  I want to study His Word so I can apply His promises to my life and I can be ready to meet Him in eternity.  Nothing is more important to me than knowing and loving God.  I pray continually for those I love, especially each member of my family.  I want them to see and experience His love and His plan for their lives.  I pray for His blessings over their lives daily.  His love is forever.  The things of this world are temporary. 

The Church is the family of God, the collection of believers throughout the world.  We attend many denominations and have different ways of expressing and practicing the one Christian faith in the one and only true God.  We believe that the Bible is God’s Word.  We believe that God’s plan of redemption, seen throughout the Old and New Testaments, is only by His grace and through His Son, Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah. 

As I look back over my spiritual journey I can see how God used many experiences, people, and church denominations in my growth.  When filling out a form asking for my religion, I always say Christian.  I do not answer with a denomination.  In America we do have the option to choose to worship in a certain church or denomination.  We are fortunate.  Many Christian believers in other parts of the world have to go “underground” to come together in Christian worship.  Let us not take this freedom for granted.  Let us pray for our Christian family throughout the world; our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I was brought to God in infant Baptism in the Methodist Church.  As a teenager, I grew and received Christ at confirmation after a two year study course at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.  Richie, our girls, and I belonged to and grew in our spiritual walks at St Luke Lutheran Church on Long Island for almost 25 years.  I taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School in the Lutheran Church and in the Methodist Church.  I also taught Vacation Bible School in a Pentecostal Church, the Church of God, which I attended for a few years.  My faith grew.  I studied the word as I taught children about God, about His Word, and about the gift of faith.

I have many believing, spirit led, family and friends who worship God in various denominations.  I have had to move on from a few churches during my journey because I was not being fed or I felt that their doctrine or preaching was not scriptural.  God gives us the gift of discernment to help us know the truth so that we are able to go to a church and sit under a pastor or priest who preaches the word and is able to help the congregation grow spiritually.  I would give this advice, “move on if you are not being fed”.  When one’s heart is convicted by the Holy Spirit we must always be moving forward in our faith; not standing still, and definitely not moving backwards.  My faith is not dependent on a church or denomination or on any other individual.  My faith and personal Christian growth is dependent on God alone.  God’s grace is sufficient in my life, in my discernment, and in my Christian walk.  I go to church to fellowship with other believers, to be instructed in the word, to worship and praise God, to please God, and to be a witness to those who are watching how I live.  Going to church, attending bible studies, and teaching others, have been and continue to be very important in my life and in my Christian walk.  I read in Hebrews 10:25, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near”.  May God be glorified in my life and in His Church; the family of God in our country and throughout the world. 

Every Life is a Timeline

I am journeying on an earthly timeline.  My timeline has intersected the timelines of countless individuals as I travel through life.  The longer I live, the more people crisscross my personal timeline.  A short life, used by God for His purpose, can affect many more lives than an older person who for one reason or another has been isolated.  Long or short, each of our lives affects someone else’s life. 

I loved the book, “The Five People you Meet in Heaven”.  Mitch Albom’s character, Eddie, realizes the unseen connections of his earthly life when he dies and arrives in heaven.  On earth he felt as if he was living a meaningless life.  In heaven he could look back and see how his life’s path was changed and redirected by the encounters he had with five people.  Eddie could not see the significance of the timelines of the five people who intersected his own earthly timeline until the meaning of these connections was made clear in eternity.   

Sometimes we are able to see the way we have affected the lives of others or see how a word or action from another has changed our own life’s direction; for better or for worse.  As I look back, I can think of specific people, specific situations, specific times, and specific words which have impacted my life’s direction.   The input of a high school guidance counselor, a nurse, and a pastor along my way helped lead me in the direction of the nursing profession which I love; a profession in which I was able to be used by God in the lives of many.  Sometimes seeds are sown or paths are intersected leaving no awareness of how a life has been touched, changed, or redirected.  

God has a plan for my life.  God has given me family, friends, acquaintances, and chance meeting individuals.  I have been touched by and have touched each of them.  Some intersections are insignificant while others impact our lives.  One life becomes a little bit of the other. 

Faith is a gift.  With this gift comes responsibility.  I am responsible for how I live my life, how I treat others, and for the choices I make.  I cannot change others.  I can only change myself, change how I react in a given situation, or change how I react in response to others.  Our choices develop our character and our character, which we are, leads us into our destiny and can touch the destiny of those put in our path by God.

I have chosen to believe.  I have chosen to follow Christ.  He is my Savior.  I will continue seeking a closer walk with God and letting the Holy Spirit grow my spirit to be more like Christ.  My spirit and faith grow as I seek a deeper walk and as He gives me the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The fruits of the Holy Spirit will manifest themselves in my spirit.  They are: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22 and 25) “If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit”.  Christ wants us to be a reflection of His Spirit.  He wants His Spirit and His gifts to shine through us.  He wants our spirits, our lives, and our timelines, to intersect with others making a positive difference in their lives.  He wants us to be His eyes, ears, hands, feet, and mouth.  He will show us what needs to be done or said.  He gives us spiritual discernment.  We must boldly allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us.  I want to be God’s vessel.  This cannot be accomplished by my own works or abilities.  I can be His vessel only by His grace as I make myself available to be used.  I do not seek personal praise for doing God’s work.  Christ saves us for good works, not by good works.  God will be glorified in and through my life as I live my life for Him.   I will trust, obey, and shine for Him.

My faith, a gift from God, is an action word.  My faith increases as I seek a closer and more intimate walk with God.  I hear His voice in my spirit and He has taught me to trust Him.  As I trust Him I want to please Him by being obedient.  My actions and words do not have to be understood by those “in the world”.  I know that ultimately how I act, what I say, and the choices I make must honor God.  My words and actions do not have to please others or myself in a self-righteous way.  I am “in Christ”.  My authority is in Christ and in His word.  I must speak and act with a humble spirit. 

I live in quiet obedience.  I am in constant communion with my creator.  My prayers are two way conversations.  Christ is my King but He is also my friend.  I am never alone.  He guides my actions and my words.  I am truly sorry when I fall short of being obedient.   I do not always operate in the gifts of the spirit; I loose my patience, I fail to see someone in the spirit of love, I loose control, or I say something which I regret saying.  We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

 Lord, I ask for your forgiveness and your grace in my life.  I give you all of the glory for the path life has taken me over my 71 years.  All things have and continue to work for good because I love you and I am called according to your purpose (Romans 8:28).  I ask that you make me aware of the needs of others.  Use me where you place me.  Give me spiritual boldness as I let the Holy Spirit lead me in Spirit and in Truth.  I expect that you will continue to work in and continue to direct my life.  I live in anticipation of what you will be doing in my life and how you will touch the lives of those who cross my path, my timeline, today and each day until I leave this worldly existence for eternity.  Thank you.  To God be the glory.  Amen