God is on your side! HAVE JOY!

The journey to read through the bible in one year. One thought and one verse from every book and chapter of the bible…

Leviticus 4
Leviticus 4:27 “‘If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, he is guilty.

As humans, we are going to sin. That is a certainty and something that we cant avoid no matter how hard that we try. What stands out to me is the fact that even when we sin unintentionally, we are still guilty. And in need of God's grace, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption. We need to remember to seek out that forgiveness and even when we do sin, not use that as an excuse to continue to do so...

Leviticus 5
Leviticus 5:5 When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned 

Admitting when we have done something that is wrong is often times the hardest part. It is a lot easier to just ask for forgiveness then it is to have to admit and say out loud what we have done. I can have a problem with confession. When I have to say out loud what I have done...it is not easy...but God recognizes that we need to confess what we have done. There is a layer of understanding what we have done...when we have to say it out loud. So today, remember that we can not forget the step of confession.  

Leviticus 6
Leviticus 6:13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

The fire for the Israelites represented the way that they made confessions, paid atonement for their sins, and offered sacrifices and offerings to God. The fire had to be kept going so that they would have a way to connect and talk to God. Jesus was sent as the ultimate sacrifice. I love that we no longer are in need of a fire and an alter to connect with God. All we have to do is talk to Him. But my take away from this is the need to not wait to deal with things in our life. I think that we can at times knowingly wait to deal with something. We can talk ourselves into dealing with it once we are on a retreat, or wait for a communion sunday, or the next time that we are experiencing great worship. But God wanted it kept going in part to remind them that it needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. Dont deceive yourself today and wait to fix, change, or seek forgiveness about things in your life that dont please God. You can not guarantee your next breath...you cant guarantee tomorrow. Dont buy into the lie that you have plenty of time to change. God needs all of you. Today. 

Leviticus 7
Leviticus 7:35-36 ³⁵ This is the portion of the offerings made to the Lord by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. ³⁶ On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their regular share for the generations to come.

As a pastor, I am not in this profession in order to become exceedingly wealthy. But God placed it right from the very beginning that people that were in the position of serving God as pastor/priests were to be taken care of by gifts from the people. And while I am not in it to be rich, nor do I ever expect to be so, I dont need to feel guilty about having my needs met or being paid in a full-time capacity to do what I do. God has placed this from the very beginning as something that was to be done. We need to take care of our pastors and understand that God has called us to support and help those who have been called in a full-time capacity to do His work. 

Leviticus 8
Levititicus 8:35  You must stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.” 

In this passage, we have Aaron and his sons being anointed in a ceremony in front of all the people as the priests. At the end, God gives them this command. What is God calling you to do today? We often ignore, rationalize away, or dont want to do some of the things that God has called you to do. If we are continuously ignoring what God is/has called us to, we can face literal spiritual death. What is the Lord requiring of you today? Stop making excuses, and do it. Your call isnt to be on your path with God thrown into your mix, but to be on His path...and be dependable on Him for what you need. 

Leviticus 9
Leviticus 9:24  Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

When was the last time that you had true just absolute pure joy in knowing that God was with you and on your side? We are such a thankless people. I love that they SHOUTED...they went nuts in knowing that God had accepted their offering and was on their side. If we REALLY believed that if God was for us, then no one could be against us, I honestly believe that we would live our lives differently. Take a moment and just DELIGHT...have JOY...go NUTS...in KNOWING that He is on your side! Be thankful and LET HIM KNOW! 


So far to date...
Books read: 2
Chapters Read: 123
Verses Read: 3754