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Day 46: Hebrews 9/Psalm 121
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Saturday April 10, 2004
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How much more,
then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts
that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 9:14 (New International
Version)
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Living All
Out
What is God’s will for my life? What was I made for? What is the
purpose of my life?
I spent years
searching for the answer to these questions. I searched high and low,
under rocks and behind bushes, in books and Bible studies and tapes. It
was as if I thought God had hidden his will to engage me in some cosmic
(sometimes comic) game of hide and seek.
Ultimately, I
discovered that the answer is much simpler than I’d thought. God’s will
for each of us is uniquely the same. While his gifts are manifest differently
in each of our lives, his calling is ultimately the same. And he’s
written and executed his will to make it clear.
In a will, a person
makes a legal declaration of his or her desires to be carried out or
executed after death. And so, the execution of God’s will--his
inheritance for his children--hinged on a death. He drew for us a
picture of his will in the deaths, the sacrifices, required by the law.
He brought that picture--that foreshadowing--to completion in Christ.
What, then, is
God’s will? In this chapter, in verse 15, lies the answer to that
age-old question.
Through the Spirit, Christ
offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those
dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all
out for God. (The Message)
God’s will, signed
and sealed in the blood of Christ, is that we live all out for
him--freed from our own dead-end efforts that we might serve him,
worship him, love him in action. If we miss this, we miss the power and
purpose of it all.
God has a purpose
for your life. He has made you to serve. How will God’s will be
executed in your life today?
Today’s
Prayer:
Thank you, Father, for the blood of Christ. Thank you for cleansing
me and for saving me, once for all. Show me how to live all out for you
today--in my family, in my work, in everything I do. Fulfill your
purpose in my life.
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Memory Verse of the Week:
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the
Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus..."
Hebrews 10:19 (New International Version)
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For a complete
listing of all the previous devotionals in this "50 Day
Experience," click here.
To read the chapter or psalm of the day online, click on one of the
following links:
o
Hebrews
9
o
Psalm
121
Susan Carson, carson@cincyvineyard.com,
Director of Curriculum Development at VCC
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