EXPAND TO READ: HEBREWS 9 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 9, 14): I have an issue with either going against my conscience or allowing my conscience to dwell so much on the negative, hurtful events in my life that I opt to begin making bad choices as a result. In these verses, You tell us that You are there to cleanse our conscience so that we may begin to truly serve You. Please forgive me for being the major roadblock in Your way of cleansing my conscience, Father. I know I am not perfect and will likely continue to make mistakes, such as getting in Your way, but I ask that You please forgive me for being such an obstruction to Your attempts at cleansing my conscience. Please continue to work on me, Father. Please do not ever give up on me so that I can slowly but surely become cleansed of all of these “dead works” that my conscience is cursed by.
PROMISE (verse 15): In this verse, You make a claim to the new covenant’s promise of an eternal inheritance for those that come to You. Thank You so much for this new promise to us, Father. Thank You so much for the ultimate sacrifice You made on our behalf through Jesus, so that we are all cleansed by His untainted and perfect blood sacrifice. Thank You for the perfected redemption through Jesus, because without His sacrifice I would surely be lost.
ATTITUDE (verses 13-14): Jesus, please help me to have a better attitude towards the sacrifice You made on my behalf. Help me to be more appreciative and loving towards that sacrifice, so that I may truly accept the eternal redemption and conscience-cleansing gift You have willingly and lovingly given to me. Show me a spiritual attitude of appreciation and love, so that I may live this life more like You instead of in my own selfish and self-condemning ways.
COMMAND (verse 20): In this verse, You make clear that the blood sacrifices of old and the final, ultimate sacrifice of new were all commanded by You, Father. You commanded these blood sacrifices to be a covenant to us for our eternal salvation. We failed horribly at the old covenant, so You commanded a new covenant through Jesus for our redemption. Thank You for Your mercy and grace towards us, Father. Thank You for taking our redemption so seriously that You would make it a command of Your for the drastic change in our salvation and redemption through Jesus.
EXAMPLE (verses 24-28): The example You give us here of why and how Jesus is our eternal salvation is amazing to me. You do a back-and-forth comparing the old and new covenant’s similarities and differences. The core difference is the power of the sacrifice that was made in the new covenant versus the old. The sacrifice made in the new covenant, Jesus, was so perfectly pure and powerful that the sacrifice only needed to be made a single time for the salvation of ALL who will follow Him. The sacrifices of the old covenant were so impure and weak that they had to be constantly made at least on an annual basis. More than 2,000 years after Jesus’ sacrifice we are still reaping the amazing benefits of Him into eternity and I am so grateful for this. Although He went through great suffering while living His life on this earth, that suffering was a necessity for the ultimate, perfect sacrificial lamb. Thank You!
*DAILY NOTE: My mind and heart are quite weak. I rely on my own strength so much in this life, that I have had too many issues to count. You’ve given me a New Testament to live by through Jesus, yet I have failed to fully accept, grasp, and embrace that way of living in my life. I’ve given into temptations, I’ve allowed my anger to control me, I’ve lived my life in insecurity, and I’ve lived in a way that I often wear a “mask” around others so that they do not see me as weak. Now I know that in my flesh I am truly weak and that’s okay because through You and the sacrifice Jesus made for me on the cross, I am rebuilt stronger than anything in this world could even imagine. Now, I just need to truly embrace this deeply in my heart and mind so that I can walk-the-walk that You want me to walk instead of just talking-the-talk most of the time.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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