The Daily Scroll: The Forest of God

 

In the realm of God, in Heaven, are places prepared for you. Places of wonder, peace and adventure. Don't miss it. It's gonna be great!

The Daily Scroll: 8-28-12

The Daily Scroll:

Through many dangers toils and snares, I have already come...and grace will lead me home.

 

 

The Daily Scroll

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells. Psalm 46:4



 

 

 

The Blessing

Mr. Spock, of Star Trek fame, would raise his hand and say “Live long and prosper.”

This "Vulcan salute, " as it has come to be called, was invented on the set of Star Trek by actor Leonard Nimoy during the filming of the second-season opener, "Amok Time." What the people didn’t know was that the Vulcan greeting came from Leonard Nimoy’s real life Jewish heritage.

He took it from the ancient blessing the Jewish Priests would bestow upon the Israelites. The Bible says, “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

“May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.”                                                                 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:23-27 NLT).

The actual blessing is done with both arms held horizontally in front, at shoulder level, with hands touching, to form the Hebrew letter "shin." This stands for the Hebrew word for "Shaddai", meaning "Almighty [God]."

 With the hand symbol, the priest was putting the name of God on the people, sealing it upon them.

This is a special blessing God wants all of us to receive. This blessing is so important because it covers us completely in every area of our life, spiritually and materially.

This blessing is so specific that God commanded the Priests to bless the people not using their own words, but rather using and exact formulation for the blessing, prefacing the instruction with the words: “Thus shall you bless.”

This reveals that the blessing comes from the LORD Himself; the priests were a means for transmitting His gracious will. Now that we have Jesus, our Messiah, our Savior, we know that He is The High Priest, and that His sacrifice has made it possible for us to enter boldly before God.

So today we can pray, petition, and speak blessings knowing that our voice will be heard, and our words will be fruitful before the Lord our Creator, because of Jesus.

As we continue to study the Priestly Blessing we learn that the people accepted the blessing and responded. So how do we receive and respond to a blessing from our Heavenly Father? We anticipate His blessing with a thankful heart, and declare that His Word is so. Here is the blessing that the priests recited, along with the response of the people.

PRIEST: May the LORD bless you and protect you.

PEOPLE: Yes, may it be His will.

PRIEST: May the LORD shine His face to you and be gracious to you.

PEOPLE: Yes, may it be His will.

PRIEST: May the LORD turn (or lift up) His face to you and give to you peace.

PEOPLE: Yes, may it be His will.

You may ask, what does a Jewish blessing have to do with me?

The Bible says, “And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:29 NLT).

So that means that all of God’s blessings are for us to obtain, because Jesus paid the ultimate price. Everything he promised pertains to all of His children.

So let us expect the blessings God, and enjoy His goodness. Be thankful for the gift of His Son Jesus, which is His greatest blessing to us each day of our lives.

Mother

 

Mother.  Just the name evokes a flood of thoughts and memories. Childhood memories of a loving hand to bandage a skinned knee, and a magical kiss upon that bandage that made the pain fade away. The big smile and wild applause from the third row in the audience of a second grade school play, acknowledging my dramatic interpretation of a tree, a tree that spoke not a word. The bedtime stories and prayers where I learned that the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

Sometimes I look at her blood stained Bible, which she took with her to dialysis treatments in her latter days. There she shared her faith and testimony with the other patients, being a blessing in her time of sickness. Though she is with the Lord, her life and love remains in my heart.

Mother.  I am doubly blessed that my child has the best one, a Mother whose child is the center of her world. She’s a Mother who loves, teaches, corrects shares, prays, plays, and focuses herself completely on the health, welfare and happiness of her child. She’s a Mother who cries every year on the first day of school after we put our daughter on the school bus. So to cheer her up and get her mind off of it, I take her to breakfast at IHOP. It’s hard to cry in your pancakes.  She’s a role model our daughter will be hard pressed to duplicate, though I know she will. 

Mother.  There are many wonderful Mothers in all our lives and though we honor them every year, it seems inadequate considering what they really deserve.  

Mother. There once was a Mother so unique, so precious, that our heavenly Father chose her to be the Mother of His only begotten Son. She was so trusted that even though she was young, inexperienced, and poor, she was chosen to Mother our Lord Jesus. Difficult circumstances was her lot in life, and yet through unspeakable adversity, such as the death threat against her son by the King, she poured herself into her son, who became the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 

It makes one wonder, what part of His determination; compassion, patience, longsuffering, and love came from her influence on Him. We assume that He received all of His attributes from His heavenly Father because He is the Son of God. But He is also the Son of man, so we must not forget to honor His Mother for being used of God the Father to instill many of those attributes.

Mother.  She’s the one who pushed Jesus into His public ministry by making Him do His first public miracle. John 2:1-11 describes how He wasn’t prepared to turn the water into wine because He said that His time had not yet come. 

“This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11 NLT). 

Like us, He experienced that wonderful force of nature, a Mama who knows best!

He acknowledged her and provided for her even during His torture on the cross. 

“When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.”  And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:26-27 NLT).  

Their love and devotion for each other didn’t end there.  As she prayed with the others in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, He filled her with the Holy Spirit, and their relationship continues to this day. She is an example to Mothers, as He is an example to Sons and daughters.

Mother.  Love her. Cherish her. Honor her. She deserves it!

Close

Spirit Fellowship Introduction

Before the fall of man, when Adam walked in fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden, he experienced God’s glory with a spiritual connection.  He was alive spiritually. His entire spirit, soul, and body functioned together, as designed by God, on whom he was totally dependent. He had a perfect relationship with God and saw Him face-to-face. God in His vastness was just a breath away.

When Adam disobeyed God and fell, everything changed. He died spiritually and his connection to the spirit realm of God was severed. With his spiritual eyes now closed, he was left with a soul and a body of flesh.  The glory was gone. Not only was Adam’s ability to see into the spirit realm gone, but the glory that had rested upon his physical body was gone as well.

Oh, that old serpent was right when he told Eve that their eyes would be opened to know good and evil, but his deceptive lie did not reveal to them that their spiritual eyes would be closed. The realm of God, yes, even God Himself was darkened to them. They left the presence of the glory of God and entered into a dark world of sin.

Up until then, Adam had lived a sinless life and was destined to live forever, as was his future offspring. However, just as God had warned, on the day that Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he died spiritually and so did all of humanity within him. He became a new creature, a beastly, sinful natured being, and so did we, as we were all in him.

What Granddaddy Adam lost for himself, and all of us, was unfathomable. And for the rest of his life, he must have longed to have it back. What did he want back? He wanted to be as he was, and to walk in fellowship with his Father, our Father. Try as he might, even with all the sacrifices, he would not get it back. It would take a miracle. It would take a savior. It would take the Word of God made flesh to dwell among us, and take upon Himself the blame, the shame, the sin, and the punishment.

The Lord Jesus did just that on Mount Calvary! He died, and then rose from the grave, after leaving our sin behind in hell. He ascended back to Heaven, and reconciled humanity back to Father. Once we, with our free will, repent of our sins, accept Christ Jesus as our savior, and invite Him into our hearts, we are born again into the Spirit, into the kingdom of God, and into God Himself! We are dead in sin no longer. Our spirits are alive unto God as Granddaddy Adam’s was in the beginning. When our bodies die, we will live eternally with Him! Praise God!

But one little thing… Yes we are born again, but our eyes are not open. As the Apostle Paul wrote, we see through a glass darkly.  In order to regain everything that Granddaddy Adam lost for himself and us in the garden, we must regain our sight.

Our spiritual sight must be clear so that we might once again fellowship in the spirit with our Father. In John 17:24, Jesus said, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.” Jesus wants us to walk in the spirit with Him and see!

Jesus promised immersion in His Holy Spirit. He told His Disciples to wait for this Comforter. They received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and so can we! When we are born again and baptized in His Holy Spirit, we feel and sense His presence, and receive the capability to see in the Spirit.

In Proverbs 29:18, it says that where there is no vision, the people perish. We must have our spiritual eyes opened so that we truly see the Lord! We need to regain the final portion of what Granddaddy Adam lost!  We need spiritual fellowship with the Lord!

The Apostle Paul felt so strongly about this that he wrote to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 1:18, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.”

In this book you will see what fellowship in the Spirit is, and how God has restored this relationship with His children. God wants us to know Him personally, not just know about Him. He wants a face-to-face relationship with us. You are invited to see and experience what spiritual life in the presence of God can be.

The gift has been given, so let us receive it. God in His vastness is just a breath away. Our prayer is, “Lord, open our spiritual eyes and let us see your glory, and fellowship in the Spirit with you.”

                       

The Mothering Arms of Forgiveness

Yolanda, a mother who carries a deep relationship with God, mindfully raised her family in the love and admonition of the Lord. Her faith sustained her through every trial, but nothing could prepare her for the trial that lay ahead.
One day a young man coming from a college party made a decision that changed her world forever. He was experiencing road rage. A car had innocently pulled out in front of him and he hit the rear end of the car; causing a horrible accident. This car carried two of Yolanda’s young sons. Both tragically lost their lives that day.

The authorities brought the proper charges. However, the guilty young man was given mercy by the court and placed on probation. After five years of an excruciating ordeal, Yolanda received a call from her lawyer. A meeting had been arranged for the young offender to come face to face with her and give an account for his actions on that tragic day.

They met in a conference room, facing each other across a table while the attorneys and staff carefully observed. The young man spoke. Holding his head down to avoid eye contact, he tried to give justification for himself. He complained that her sons had pulled out in front of him. He clumsily fumbled out unacceptable excuses for his actions, blaming her sons for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of the things he said didn’t even make sense. And he did not ask for forgiveness.

The attorneys, the court recorder, and everyone in the room sat in silence, anticipating what Yolanda would say or do. After five years of suffering, she now sat across from the source of her pain, and her heart cried out to the Lord. Like so many times before, the Lord Jesus spoke gently to her and gave her guidance.

“Yolanda,” He said, “That boy is lost. He needs me. He has no one here. His family let him come here alone. He needs me.”

“But Lord,” she asked, “What do I do?”

“Daughter, I have you. I have always had you, and I’ll never let you go. But he needs me. He has nothing, no one. Forgive him Yolanda, forgive him.”

Scripture rang in her ear. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36 NIV).

She asked herself. “How can I forgive him? How can I? Yet I know that Jesus forgave me.”

After a moment of reflection, Yolanda took a deep breath and broke the silence in the room. She looked him square in the face, which was still lowered toward the table, and said, “I love you with the love of the Lord. I forgive you!”

Everyone looked at her. Shocked and stunned, they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Slowly the young man raised his head and for the first time their suffering eyes met. His confused and bewildered expression displayed the inner turmoil that he was struggling to understand.

With grace, which could only come from the Lord Jesus, Yolanda stood to her feet, spread open her arms and said, “I forgive you!”

With that, the young man bolted around the table and into her arms. He buried his face in her chest and covered her with his tears, crying in convulsions. Yolanda held him tight like one of her own. Mothering him, she patted him tenderly on his head and said, “It’s alright baby. It’s alright baby.” He wept uncontrollably.

Then she prayed, “Jesus, take the anointing for ministry that was upon my sons and place it upon him. Give him a double portion! He came in here as a Saul, let him leave as a Paul!”

As she prayed, his knees buckled. Yet she held him up firmly in her mothering arms of forgiveness. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as the miraculous love of Christ was displayed in this incredible act of forgiveness. They were both freed to continue their lives in peace.

Our God, who is love, displayed His forgiveness as He sacrificed His only begotten son for us. Through Christ, we receive His incredible forgiveness that frees us from sin and shame. Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 KJV).

Because of Jesus, we too can hold our head up, walk in the love of God, and experience the mothering arms of forgiveness.