I praise and magnify you in my heart until it swells with awe and deep veneration. Ah, my Lord, to be able to comprehend you. You must smile when you see me try. I am like an ant trying to understand the mind of a human. You are so large, I only have a fleeting glimpse of you. It is like a mite sitting on my arm trying to see all of me. The mite can only see what its tiny eye can see up close, and that is me. You are larger than the unmeasurable universe, for you are its Maker. The very thought of you is breathtaking.

Jesus, I try to thank you every way I can think of and know how.  It’s never enough, for I could never show gratitude even close to the sacrifice you made in my place. You did not have to die. You weren’t the one sinning. But, we had been kidnapped by Satan and you were the only one strong enough to pay the ransom he wanted ~ the death of God. Thank you for tricking him! Oh, how I smile when I think about how you fooled him and came back to life. The ransom had been paid and he could do nothing about it. You had set us free. How amazing you are. I fall at your feet and worship.

The scripture for today, November 12 (11/12), is Leviticus 11:12 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.”

Is the Law of Moses still in effect, including its requirement for tithing?  The scripture above is just one of the over 600 laws in the Law of Moses. They were intricate laws governing both their worship and their everyday life. This one chapter in Leviticus says in part they could not eat camels or coneys or rabbits or pigs. They could not eat eagles, vultures, kites, ravens, owls, gulls, hawks, osprey, storks, herons, hoopoes or bats. But they could eat locusts, katydids, crickets and grasshoppers. And this is just part of Leviticus 11!

Why did God give so many intricate laws to the Jews? To give them a chance to keep them all perfectly so they could be perfect. In the meantime, God did not give any laws to the Gentiles; He let them try whatever means they could on their own to become perfect. But during the same time period, both the Jews and Gentiles proved to themselves that it was impossible to keep their religions perfectly and thus be perfect themselves.

Now Jesus was ready to come. He lived the Jewish law perfectly, then nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and established a new last will and Testament (Hebrews 8-9). Now you live under a law of grace, and his commandments revolve around loving God and loving each other.

God cannot co-exist with imperfection. But he loves you and wants you to be his child.  Through Jesus he accomplished it; he set you free. He has released you from having to be perfect under the Law, and sees you now through the blood of Jesus and his holy eyes as perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In biblical novel 5, Jesus opens the “FLOOD GATES” by accusing Jewish leaders of not living the Law of Moses perfectly, so they begin their campaign to kill him. To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2Fj9xjL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#LawOfMoses, #OldTestament, #NewTestament, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

I adore you, Lord God, and worship you.  I laugh with you, cry with you. I am unworthy of all the attention you give me, especially among the millions of others who long for you.  You know my name and follow me around. My thoughts, attitudes, and activities are readily open to you.  My sins are among them.  How unworthy I am. You love me still.  How marvelous and magnificent you are in love and mercy. I worship you.

Thank you for my being able to live in a country that gives me as much freedom as I need to worship you. Even if I must worship you in hiding, I still will have the freedom to find a hiding place.  Every place has valleys and galleys to hide in, and basements, and abandoned buildings and mountain tops. Thank you for the hiding places. And thank you for the heroes who long to worship you so much, they will do anything to do so. Thank you for worship ~ a way to connect believers together for strength and connect with you for holiness. Our prayers are diamonds, our songs are silver, our Lord’s Supper rememberings are rubies, and our reading your love letters are gold.