Tag Archives: Godly Girlfriends

His Glory, Glorified!

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Glory

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 9

Leviticus verse 6: Then Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.”

Does the glory of the Lord still appear to us? We see that the glory of the Lord is everything that makes God, God. All His characteristics, authority, power, wisdom—literally the immeasurable weight and magnitude of God—are contained within God’s glory. Nothing is hidden or held back!

So does the glory of the Lord still appear to us? I say, “Yes!”

What do we have to do to see God’s glory? I think Leviticus 9 gives us a map to how we see God’s glory. I believe it is summarized by these 3 offerings: First, repent of your own sin, then forgive others of their sins, and pray for your relationship to grow in God and with others. Aaron took the first offering, the calf, and sacrificed for his own sin, then the goat offering to cover the people’s sin, and finally the ox and ram for the fellowship offering.

I think this is a really simple equation to what God desires for us to live out our time here on earth. He wants us to be connected to Him, point others to Him, and have a relationship with Him and others. His glory is all around us. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

I recommend we pause for a second and think about what that means for us to day. What do we need to take to God in prayer as our sin offering (confession and repentance)? What can we pray about for others and ask God to help them with their burdens and needs, and what can we do – with God’s help – to deepen our relationship with Him and others that would glorify God?

No Strings Attached

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puppeteer

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 8

Simon says, “Hop on one foot.” Simon says, “Touch your toes.” – Close your eyes! (Gotcha!)

Do you remember the game? It gets me every time. When I first came into a relationship with Christ at age 32, this is what I felt like my relationship with God looked like. Gods says, “Do not lie.” God says, “Do not steal.” God says, “Honor your Mother and Father.” God says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” – Read your bible every day! (Oops!) The worst part – as a sinner – I blew them all.

Rule bound; as if the human race is a bunch of puppets on a string. I couldn’t understand free will because I didn’t feel like I had any. I had this new found comprehension of what a horrible, sin-filled, undeserving human that I was/am and was clinging to the rules to protect me.

In Leviticus, God gave them very specific instructions and they had to obey every word. Why? They weren’t covered by the blood of Jesus. During Aaron’s ordination, they were not be worthy of being called a Priest until they were fully consecrated. Consecration isn’t a promise to go out as a missionary or to do something else for the Lord. Consecration means to come to the Lord with empty hands and ask, “Lord, what will You have me to do?” He does the filling! That is consecration.

As we now know, the rules won’t get us into heaven. It takes something much more intangible… belief and faith. I shared with my 9th graders in Sunday School on Sunday, the longest distance to heaven is the twelve inches between your head and your heart. The head represents rules. Rules that we learn, follow, practice and sweat over. Your heart is about belief, humility, confession, forgiveness (of yourself and others) and faith that God literally sent His one and only son and belief in Him so we can have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

The day I figured this out, I was a tear-filled blubbering mess. My whole life I lived under the rules and rituals of religion, but finally understood what it mean to be a Christian; a true believer. In turn, we receive a writ of passage into heaven. Aaron was appointed by God to be the one who could approach God and be given the ability to bless the Iraelities and present offerings to God.

I’m so glad that we can go directly to God and have a relationship with him with no strings attached. No priests, intercessors, animal sacrifices, rules, turbans, robes, and alters. What freedom we are given through Christ and because of this we live our lives in obedience, not because of the rules that He gave us to follow, but because of our hearts desire to honor Him with our lives for the sacrifice He made for us.

Face Plant For God

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Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 7

Have you ever read a book starting with the last chapter first? I can’ say that I ever have, but I love the last couple verses at the end of chapter 7. If today is one of those days where you only have time to catch two verses, make these your verses today.

“23 Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 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 face down.”

Does God ever stop you in your tracks? As I am reading Leviticus chapter 7, I am trying to capture every word and tie together all of the logistics of the offering, comprehend what God is trying to teach us – and then I get to verses 23 & 24 and “KABOOM!” God speaks.

Moses and Aaron bless the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to them? Have you ever been to a worship service and are so moved that your eyes pour tears or the words of the song mean so much that all you can do is follow along, but you can’t sing? Have you ever been in the middle of prayer and your mind goes blank and you just pause in the quiet moment or when you’re reading God’s Word, the words seem to be printed in bold print, as if to be jumping off the page, and speaking only to you?

I have.

These verses reminded me of those moments. God doesn’t show himself literally. He warned Moses in Exodus that if he were to see God, he would die. So however God really appeared to them (or showed his glory) on that day, the very last words of this chapter say that the people shouted for joy and fell face down.

This chapter is a reminder to throw ourselves down before the Lord. Just stop. Stop what we are doing. Stop our agenda. Stop working so hard, fighting for something, striving for more, better, best. It is a reminder to take in the glory of God, pause, and capture a moment of recognizing all God has blessed us with. If we do that, we may find ourselves humbled to our knees; more likely on our faces planted into the floor in worship.

Just listen:

Sin Substitute

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Slushy Mess

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 6

My daughter and I were at Target on Saturday and she asked for a cherry slushy from their concession area. It was one of those self-serve stations and when the red liquid froze it eroded like a volcano all over her hand, the counter top and floor. She looked at me with big blue eyes and said, “Mom! It blew up!” I was feeling a bit embarrassed for her and overwhelmed by the messy project before us so I asked the cashier for her help. She came over with the most genial, light-hearted spirit and said, “No big deal, that happened to me once.” Bless her for her sweetness, she took the awkwardness out of the moment and even offered some humor amongst the mess.

She cleaned it up and gave us a new cup for a second chance. As she walked away I said, “Thank you for taking such good care of us.” Another woman, within range of my comment, gave me a very strange look. My look back at her must have been equally odd so she qualified her reaction with a statement, “I am sorry, I just had to see who said that because it is so unusual to hear someone be pleasant and complimentary these days.”

It is unfortunate that our retail and food service employees take such abuse from their customers, its even more unfortunate that it is uncommon to see someone treating them with dignity and respect. This story is timely, of course, because you know I’m going to make this story about our devotional this morning.  Isn’t there a parallel to what God is doing with the sin offering?
In chapter 6, the instructions are again given to the priests. The sin offering, which speaks of the work of Christ on the cross, was to be offered where the burnt offering was sacrificed. The burnt offering speaks of the person of Christ. Christ must be holy, harmless, and free from sin to be a satisfactory offering for sin. He must be able to save. This is why the virgin birth is essential in the plan of salvation. This is the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in a virgin. The sin offering was holy because Christ was free from sin—though He was made sin for us. It was my sin and your sin that caused Him to die, not His sin. He didn’t die simply because He was arrested by the Romans. He could have stepped off this earth at any moment. He told Peter that He could call for legions of angels, if He wished to do so. He was made sin for us and He died in our place.

Just as we had a chance to make another slushy, God gave the Israelities a chance to right their wrongs. In verse 5 God tells Moses,  “Or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.”

Jesus paid it all – even the restitution we could not pay. What a great perspective to start the week.

 

Sassy Mouth

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mouth

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 5

We have all heard the phrase, “Ignorance is no exception to the law.” I don’t like that phrase. It basically says, “Even if you have no clue about what is taking place, you’re guilty by association.” That, my friends, is a very helpless place to be. It implies that just because you are physically present to the crime, you are a criminal. If you are in proximity of a robbery, you are a thief. If you hang around with people who are gossips, you are a gossiper and if you are in the company of slobs, you are a slob. True or not – God is saying intentionally or unintentionally, aware or unaware, we are guilty.

Verse 4 jumps out at me, “Or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt.”

My paraphrase, “Don’t make promises that you aren’t going to keep or carelessly swear.” Do you know what I think is the most misused, but unintentional sins. Saying the words, “I will pray for you.” How many times have you become aware of someone’s hardships and you throw out these words aloofly. Perhaps you really planned to pray and forgot? I’ll go ahead and throw myself under the bus here, “I’m guilty!” Because of this, I make a point of NOT saying that phrase unless I mean it and WILL do it. None-the-less, I think it proves that point that God is making in Leviticus 5:4.

Then there is that tongue of ours; James 3:7-8 says, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” It was amazing when I first became a believer, God cleaned up my language. Slowly and over time some of those nasty little verbs have crept back into my vocabulary.

Leviticus 5 is a reminder to me today (and hopefully you) to become more consciously aware of my sin and clean up my act. At the same time, this chapter has made me aware what I will continue to fail AND there may be a host of things that I don’t even know I need to clean up, fix, or stop doing. The Holy Spirit is our counselor, so I have every confidence that He will prompt us to become aware of our shortcomings, but at the same time we can have peace that Christ covered them all – past, present, and future. I’m reminded, once again, to turn my eyes to the cross and humble myself to all Christ has done for me – even stuff I don’t even realize He has covered. Isn’t that a beautiful picture of God’s grace?

The Source Of Guilt

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hands in prayer

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 4

Like the first four chapters and those yet to come, this chapter has a theme – a big theme. Sins of ignorance; sins of the priest; sins of the congregation; sins of the ruler; sins of the common people; the law of the sin offering.

To rephrase this, the following are not exempt from sin: People who don’t know any better, Pastor’s, the church-goers, government authorities, you and me. That pretty much covers everybody! Notice something a bit more disturbing. Look at these verses…

2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—

13 ” ‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt.

22 ” ‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt.

27 ” ‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt.

Two words are repeated throughout this chapter,  sins unintentionally and realize their guilt. WOW! In other words, people that don’t even know that they are sinning will feel guilty about it. I can relate.

Have you ever had the silent treatment from someone who is mad at you, but you don’t know what you did wrong or why they are upset or mad; you could just tell that something wasn’t right? Even without knowing the cause you give that person a gift and try to get back in good graces with them because you don’t like the tension or dissonance. You have no idea what you might have done, but you want to make it right – if it isn’t your fault – at least try to cheer them up. Meanwhile you are doing a search of yourself trying to figure out what you did or said that would have hurt or offended them?

I think this is what this chapter is trying to teach us. I’m not trying to say we need to live our lives in guilt and constantly fight for His love, attention and forgiveness. What I am trying to say is that through our love of God, we desire to please Him.

I feel sorry for those who don’t have a relationship. No one is exempt – even those who don’t know any better. That explains why we, sinners, feel that something is missing in our lives. We mess up. We may not even be aware of it, but our guilt draws us toward God and helps us realize we need Him.

I pray that this chapter would have us praying, not only for our own shortcomings, but the hearts of the lost whom God is trying to get their attention. Those burdened with guilt and don’t understand its source. Bring Him an offering of prayer and acknowledge Him. I say this as I bend my knee right now…

Sin Is Dark – Be The Light

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Grim_reaper

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 3

I began my collegiate career as an accounting major. Shockingly, my first class was Accounting 101 and I failed my first test – I was shocked! This was the basic stuff, simple debits and credits – this wasn’t supposed to happen. I went to the teacher and he said words that forever changed my life, “Perhaps an accounting career isn’t for you.”

I did what every confused college student would do, I called Mom. Mom did a self analysis of the job market and realized I had a higher probability of getting  a job as a nurse, so that was her recommendation. Once again, I was excited, guided and I enrolled in a bunch of labs my second semester – Biology, Chemistry and Anatomy, Oh My! I remember looking at my lab partner in Anatomy and she could barely wait to cut into that disgusting, formaldehyde smelling, slimy frog. I was literally ill. It was that moment that I knew the medical field wasn’t for me.

So I’m having this flashback as I’m reading Leviticus 3. This chapter gives a vivid description of the peace offering and its not a very pretty picture – at least to us. This pleased God and the reason sacrifice was necessary is because of sin, they didn’t have Jesus yet; God’s perfect sacrifice to cover their sin. This particular offering speaks of the communion and fellowship of believers with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way you and I can come to God is through Jesus Christ. He is the Way!

God never accepted the blood of bulls and goats as the final payment for sin, but He required that blood be shed. It was an atonement to cover over the sins until Christ came. In other words, God saved “on credit” in the Old Testament. When Christ came, as the hymn accurately states it, “Jesus paid it all.” This is true as far as the past is concerned, and as far as the present is concerned, and as far as the future is concerned.

Furthermore, I am reading this in the early morning of Halloween. Today is a day when my neighborhood will be busy with Zombies, Grim Reapers, and little Freddie’s. As you now know I’m not a fan of bloody gore and shouldn’t surprise you that I’m not a fan of Halloween either. I don’t like the dark side of this day – God is light in the darkness. Darkness represents sin and sin is disgusting, stinky, and slimy to God. Whether its killing animals who are without defect or our surrendered lives, there is no question that we need a savior – He gave one to us. Let’s give him our best today and be light in the darkness on this Halloween day.

Picture Perfect

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bread

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 2

Bread. My parents had an eight track tape that I remember listening to called, “The Best of Bread.” My favorite song on that album was the song, “If.” The first line of that song was, “If a picture paints a thousand words, than why can’t I paint you. The words will never show, the you I’ve come to know.”

The offerings in Leviticus speak of the person of Christ and of the work of Christ. The burnt offering in chapter 1 was a picture of Christ in depth as well as in death. The meal offering reveals the humanity of Jesus in all its perfection and loveliness. Somehow, some way, the song lyrics I haven’t heard for decades comes back to me and reminds me of my relationship with Christ, “The words will never show, the you I’ve come to know.”

Perhaps that is what God is doing in this book. He’s trying to take the picture of his son Jesus and describe him, or paint a picture of Him, in a way that we can conceptualize who He is. He’s complex and no one ever walked this planet who what like Him. How do you put that into words. Then to put another twist on it, “It’s prophesy!” This was written thousands of years before Jesus even came to earth.

This is evidence of the trinity – God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I used to get all hung up on this, “How can God be three persons in one?” God created the earth and then Jesus shows up and then the Holy Spirit enters the picture?… NO! They were there all along. God is revealing them to us in the Old Testament and Leviticus 2 is describing it here.

Have you ever imagined trying to explain Christ to someone? Sure there is the Sunday school version, “All you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and you’ll go to heaven,” but it’s not that simple is it?

God is using a word picture and this chapter happens to be a meal offering that God is describing. There is no shedding of blood, so that alone makes this one different and there are two important aspects of this offering: the ingredients which are included and the ingredients which are excluded. Essentially it is the picture the perfect humanity of Christ.

New Beginnings and a Treasure Hunt

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Treasure

Today’s Devotional: Leviticus 1

Welcome! I have been on this chapter-a-day journey through the bible since early July 2013. I created this blog and Facebook page the day after I met Elina and Nikki, whom I didn’t know very well at the time. We immediately bonded as sisters in Christ. We were practically strangers, but they shared biblical wisdom to help me out of a pit I recently climbed into, it was if God put them in my life at that perfect time and the very next morning I prayed to thank God for my Godly Girlfriends and that was the day Godly Girlfriends began.

So it was like I had this new baby, but didn’t know what to do with it. I knew one thing for sure, I wasn’t plugged into God’s Word, a bible study, or any discipline that would help me grow and deepen my relationship with Christ. So I thought if I wasn’t, perhaps others would benefit from an online day-to-day reading plan – and here we are.

Friendships are developed, strengthened, and maintained through commonalities and shared experiences. I would say wherever you are in live or physically reside on the planet, if you are a follower of Christ we have commonality. This blog makes our relationship a bit one sided on my part because I’m sharing my stories, revealing my heart and expressing my insights, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Communicate with a comment on this blog or a post on our Facebook page or if you run into great quotes, pictures, stories, so please pass them along.

All that to say, “Welcome to Leviticus 1!” It’s a fresh start, a new beginning and an opportunity for you to continue your walk with the Lord alongside of me; not only getting to know me better, but, more importantly, for you to deepen your relationship with Christ. Like anything, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. I see God at work in my heart and in my life like I have never seen Him before.

In Leviticus 1 is a new day for God too. He has moved off of Mount Sinai and into the Tabernacle and what a new beginning this is for the Iraelites. Leviticus is the book of worship. Sacrifice, ceremony, ritual, liturgy, instructions, washings, convocations, holy days, observances, conditions, and warnings crowd this book. All these physical exercises were given to teach spiritual truths.

I have heard that the book of Leviticus is not the best reading, but you know what? It’s in God’s Word for a very special reason. If you like a good treasure hunt, let’s find the treasures in Leviticus together.

God Takes Up Residence

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Heart home

Today’s Devotional: Exodus 40.

Another milestone day. Today we conclude our study through Exodus and what a finish. Verse 34 says, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle,” and so it is with our hearts.

When God is so dominant in our lives and we allow His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, there is no room for anything else and THAT is what true fulfillment looks like. It is a peace beyond all understanding and a  confidence that you can’t find anywhere else.

We risk getting all religious and churchy to get there though. We think that the only way to truly fill our hearts with God is to get busy in religious activities and begin a lifestyle that is so rigid and rule-bound that we exhaust ourselves. What I’m talking about is a relationship with God. Think about it – What happens when you are in a relationship with someone? You think about them constantly, you go out of your way to serve them and you communicate about everything.

Some of my friends know my deepest, darkest secrets… So does God.

I have friends going through some tough times and I want to be there for them because I love and care about them… So does God about you and me.

When I have ‘stuff’ in my life, my friends check-in because they’re worried about me and what to see how I’m doing… God does more than just check-ins, He’s in the valleys with us too.

I call on a friend when I need sounding-board to make a good decision or clarify a situation before I react to it… so should I with God, FIRST!

You see, I love the visual of the cloud covering the tabernacle and being so filled with God that even Moses couldn’t get in. That picture for me is God filling my heart and there is no room for Sarah to get in. You know I’m bound to work all things out for MY own selfish agenda, prone to tell God what I want and beg Him to give me the desires of MY heart. Even worse, I will try to justify ugly self as not being so bad or better than so-and-so. Truth is, when there is no room for me, I’m better for it.

I pray God takes up residence in our hearts this week and WE LET HIM. God takes over to the point where there just isn’t room for us to control or manipulate our circumstances for our own outcomes and desires. Allowing our lives to be a product of His outcomes and His desires. What a powerful conclusion to the book of Exodus and powerful beginning to our day and week.

May God fully bless you and fill every crevice of our hearts.