Exodus 19-21; Luke 22

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you should labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 ESV

My pastor asked this question on Sunday, “Am I working for rest? Or am I working from rest?” More often than not, I am working for rest. But, when I take a Sabbath, I am energized to do the work that God has called me to do. When I quiet my heart and mind before Him, I remember that I’m not in control. I don’t have to frantically live my life and worry that I am falling behind. “Rest. in His strength to do it, Rest in His ways above ours, Rest in Him who is with you, in you & is 100% for you.” (Ann Voskamp)

“And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Exodus 20:1 ESV

Am I resting in His care for me?

“And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.” Luke 22:15-18 ESV

When I take communion, I reflect on what God did for me. That He paid the ultimate sacrifice for my sins, because He loves me that much. It strengthens my faith, knowing that His promises will be fulfilled.

Thank you Father for your faithfulness. Thank you that your law is for my protection, because you know what is best for me. Thank you for your grace and mercy. I love you. Amen.

Amy(amyctanner)

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Leviticus 5; Psalms 3, 4; Proverbs 20; Colossians 3

No one can say, “I am innocent; I have never done anything wrong.” Proverbs 20:9 (NCV)

If a person sins and does something the Lord has commanded not to be done, even if he does not know it, he is still guilty. He is responsible for his sin. Leviticus 5:17 (NCV)

There are 613 individual laws that the Jews were told to follow in the early days of Israel and even unto today. The Mosaic Law is a list of many things that must be done and many more that must not be done to be holy unto God. The laws touch on every thinkable aspect of life and death. It is a list of unattainable perfection.

[By offering the sacrifice] the priest will remove the person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him. Leviticus 5:10b (NCV)

When one or more sins were committed, the sinner was required to bring a sin sacrifice to the priests. Whether they knew they were sinning or not they were required to offer sacrifices. And only after those sacrifices were made would that person then be forgiven.

There are so many laws to remember, to understand, and to follow and obey. So many things that need to be monitored, regulated. No matter how hard I try, I can’t even imagine actually fulfilling each and every single letter of the law.

I will pray to the Lord, and he will answer me from his holy mountain. Psalms 3:4 (NCV)

Answer me when I pray to you, my God who does what is right. Make things easier for me when I am in trouble. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. Psalms 4:1 (NCV)

When I inevitably stumble, all I have to do is pray, ask my Father for forgiveness. My sin is forgiven and forgotten. I am redeemed. The blood sacrifice that was made by Christ at Calvary was, is, and will always be enough to set me free from the law that only serves to show me that I will never be able to do it without His help. His love is everlasting. His mercy is never ending. His grace is the gift of life that keeps on giving and can never be lost.

God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So you should always clothe yourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Colossians 3:12 (NCV)

I am a new creation, a righteous life raised from the grave, my grave clothes left behind in the tomb. I am the beloved daughter of the King being prepared as a spotless bride. I walk in freedom and in the delight of being one with Him.

Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3 (NCV)

You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God. Colossians 3:10 (NCV)

Blessings – Julie, Vadipatti, India (written in the U.S.A.)

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Kings 15, 16; Galatians 3

Living IN Christ means freedom. It means freedom from the curse of sin. It means freedom to be in relationship with God. This freedom is a gift of grace and mercy given to all who will accept it and walk in it.

In my own life, the conflict between law and grace, between legalism and living in true freedom are always battling. It is so easy to fall into the ‘trap’ of thinking I can DO something to win God’s favor and approval, to attain righteousness, just like the Galatians, when in fact Christ already did everything that needed to be done.

As much as I ‘try’ to be good, obedient, sinless, and perfect, I will never succeed. It is impossible for me to achieve that by myself.

The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Galatians 3:11 (MSG)

When God chose the Israelite as His own, He wanted to protect them from themselves. He wanted to prepare them to recognize how much they needed Him. He gave them the Law through Moses, an unattainable set of rules to guide them, but also to show them that they couldn’t truly be righteous by themselves, no matter how hard they tried.

If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God’s will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time. Galatians 3:21-22 (MSG)

When I read all of the laws that were set forth in the time of Moses, I can honestly say that I have not obeyed them all. Sure, I wasn’t trained in them as many of the Israelites were; I didn’t live in a Jewish home that studied and practiced Mosaic law daily. But even if I was, I would still never be able to live by the letter of the law. And, therefore, I would be cursed.

And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.” Galatians 3:10 (MSG)

The kings in the Old Testament (see chart below) lived during the time of Mosaic law. Azariah (Uzziah) and Jotham, kings of Judah, chose to try to live by the law, but failed to obey everything. They continued to allow the practices of idol worship, rather than tearing down those high places. But King Ahaz of Judah and all of the kings of Israel didn’t even try to live by the law. They practiced and participated in idol worship, murder, taking people’s money, plundering the temple, etc. They lived evil lives and led the people in their kingdoms into sin and further away from God. All of the Kings of Judah and of Israel lived under the curse of sin and therefore suffered the consequences of that curse.

There is only one King who is fully righteous – blameless before God and man. He is the Chosen One, the Seed appointed to liberate me. He became the curse. He was scorned, scourged, and sacrificed, made the scapegoat for my sins, so that the bonds of legalism are broken off and I am made righteous through grace. He died so that I can live. He died to redeem the law and allow me to move from a life full of works and rituals to a life of faith, freedom, and relationship.

Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it. Galatians 3:13-14 (MSG)

To prevent myself from falling into the deception of legalism, I need to ask myself everyday “Do I have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in my life? Am I responding to God’s Message to me? Am I fully trusting Him?”

I choose to live by the Spirit, to accept His gift of grace. I choose to trust Him. I choose to keep the cross as the center of my attention, as the foundation of my life.

Help me Holy Spirit! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Blessings – Julie, Vadipatti, India

REGION	KING	CONDUCT	CURSE
Judah	Azariah (Uzziah) son of Amaziah	Did well in the eyes of God, except he didn’t remove the high places of idol worship	Afflicted with a bad skin disease until the day of his death
Judah	Jotham son of Azariah (Uzziah)	Acted well in God’s eyes, except he didn’t remove the high places of idol worship	Died during attacks against Judah
Judah	Ahaz son of Jotham	Didn’t behave in the eyes of God; participated in all forms idol worship; plundered the valuables from the Temple	City was sieged; lived under the heavy hand of the Assyrian king
Israel	Zechariah son of Jeroboam	Lived a bad life before God	Assassinated
Israel	Shallum son of Jabesh	Only reigned 1 month	Attacked and killed
Israel	Menahem son of Gadi	Lived an evil life	Attacked by and had to pay tribute to the Assyrian King
Israel	Pekahiah son of Menahem	Lived an evil life	Conspired against and killed in cold blood by his military aid
Israel	Pekah son of Remaliah	Lived an evil life	Attacked by the Assyrian King; assassinated by Hoshea son of Elah