Have you ever had one of those paradigm-shifting moments that made you really stop and think about what it is that you’re hearing? My study and prayer was like that this week. I’m doing four different studies right now (I know it seems like a lot, but bear with me), and they all intersected this week.
One of the studies is on Ezra, and it has been enlightening and has elevated my thinking and worship. Carol Tetzlaff is down to earth and inspiring.
The second one, “Twisted Scripture” by Andrew Farley, has helped me put several scriptures back into their initial context and has been a lot to digest.
My husband and I are taking a class through our church about membership, which has caused me to dig deep into what I actually believe and how I want to move forward.
The fourth one, also by Carol Tetzlaff, is “More Than Just a Word,” a guided journal that has helped me to move into 2024 with purpose.
They’re all posted with links so you can easily access them, and frankly I highly recommend all of them.
Now, my word of the year is SEEK. My scripture this year is 1 Cor 2:16 – “But who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” I’ve been trying to dig in to this, wanting to know just what it is the God has for me to do, and this week He really put some things together.
Common Threads
In the “Our Church” book, it talks about finding your purpose and tells me to “find a place where you can minister and serve in the church.” It’s very open about the way the Nazarene Church believes that our service should spill over into our surrounding community. It discusses the fact that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is what transforms into the likeness of the Savior, in a lifelong process of spiritual growth.
In Ezra, This sentence caught my attention – “Our worship doesn’t stop when we pull out of the church parking lot on a Sunday morning.” Our worship, our service, our love for our fellow man should be a part of our natural rhythm – part of who we are.
In my Word journal, while searching God’s promises, I found this one and wrote it down; “and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3”
Finally, Farley writes that the only thing that really please God is when the resurrection life of His Son is expressed through us. “Trust the indwelling Christ fully and completely, not just for salvation and Heaven but for upright, godly living in between.”
Covenants
So let’s talk about covenants. I know that’s not much of a segue, but here it is – I’m not Jewish. As far as I know, I have no Jewish blood in my ancestry. What that means for me is that I WAS NEVER UNDER THE ISRAELITE COVENANT. Did you hear that? I just figured it out, like, five days ago. What does that even mean? Well, it means that the law that Moses brought down the mountain, the tablets of stone, the six hundred-plus rules ARE NOT MINE TO CONTEND WITH.
Am I saying we all need to live in anarchy? Well of course not. What I’m saying is that it took me this long to realize that the new covenant, the one that was created when Jesus died on the cross, is one of love. It is about belief and love and nothing else. When you believe that God loves you so much that He sent His Son to live and die and be resurrected and live again, that when He died He gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and guide us, you can begin to understand that if you follow the promptings of the Spirit the law no longer applies.
When we are living a life that encompasses love, REAL love, for our fellow man, we lose any desire to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc. anyway! Galatians 3:23-25 tells us, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The only purpose for the Israelites’ law for us is to make us aware of how much we really need our Savior. Once we see it and accept Him, we no longer need it!
This has been a liberating week for me, folks. I’m not saying the Old Testament isn’t important. There is so much there for us – ways to worship, beautiful testimony of the love of God, and all of it pointing toward the Messiah.
He showed up – He showed up, and He lived and taught us how to love, and He shed His blood for the remission of OUR sin because He had none. He was crucified and resurrected so that we too could be resurrected at the last days.
He loves you.
If you would like to know Him better, and you don’t have a physical Bible, you can download the Bible Gateway app here. It’s a great resource, and one I use frequently.
I will be praying this prayer for all of you this week – “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21
Love, Elizabeth
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