YOU

It's been a long time since I posted and I am trying to get back into the mode of journaling, writing, blogging.  I don't know what derailed me but busyness, distraction and other sundry interruptions. So here I am again.  I hope my posts bless and encourage. 

I often have difficulty sleeping for various reasons, so instead of counting sheep I have other things I do while I am lying there.  Sometimes I get up and pray, read, work on the computer or watch TV. Sometimes I find my mind going to things that I am trying to work out.  That is often a dead end or what I call circling around the mountain again and again.  So I have a few mental exercises I go through and I am going to share them with you.  These are to challenge my Bible knowledge.  I will take the alphabet and for each letter I will remember a scripture.  Now I can't always remember the reference but I will be able to quote the scriptures.  For instance;

A:  Arise shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

B: Be still and know that I am God

C: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law..

D: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I can usually get through all the letters except maybe Q, X, Z .  It really challenges me.  The other thing I do is take the alphabet and place the names of God.

A:  Alpha

B:  Bright and morning star

C: Counselor

D: Daystar

Once again I can do most letters. So my new challenge was names in the Bible.

A:  Abraham

B: Boaz

C: Cain

D: David

Well on this I could even do Q, X, Z,   Queen Ester, Xerxes, Zechariah and I was so excited but I couldn't find one for Y and finally it dawned on me after I looked in my concordance.  You!  You is in the Bible.  Did you know YOU are in the Bible?  Ha ha, well I got to thinking about that and meditating on it and it is really important that we put ourselves in the Bible otherwise it has no influence. Or should I say we should put the Bible in us.  Do you know how many times you is in the Bible? 2502. And ye which could mean you or a plural you is in there 3780 times.  This is in the King James version which uses ye a lot.  

We can be a Bible scholar and have a lot of knowledge in regard to the Bible but if it hasn't been revealed to us it does us no good.  You see, we must have impartation of revelation.  Only Holy Spirit can do that.  He is sent to reveal Jesus through the Word.  He breathed it into man who wrote it and now He has to breath it into us as we read it.  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16,17.  Here's how I look at it.  I have heard this: the Old Testament is Jesus concealed. The New Testament is Jesus revealed. But...the purpose of the Old and New Testament is also to reveal US;  to reveal we cannot save ourselves, we have fallen, we have missed the mark and are doomed without a Savior. A lot of people don't like to read the Old Testament because of all the violence, acts of judgment and darkness that is there.  But in the midst of it are wonderful passages and  a merciful, loving God who reveals his incredible plan of covenant relationship with sinful man. All the redemptive names of God are there, and in Genesis He makes perfectly clear His desire for fellowship and relationship with us.  Wow! I can't think of that without tears in my eyes.  ALL of the judgmental acts in the Old Testament where He swallowed up people in the ground, sent fire down, etc. were done to preserve a people who would bring forth a Savior to redeem us from our own sinfulness.  My heart leaps at the thought of that! Such love!  

In the Old Testament as Moses set up the tabernacle in the wilderness,  the different articles of the tabernacle in the wilderness represented different things.  There was the altar of sacrifice where animals were slain as atonement for sin, then the bronze laver where the priests washed their hands before proceeding. These two places were brought to my attention and of course there is much more in the study of this tabernacle.  Of course the blood was shed at the altar of sacrifice then the priests cleansed their hands in the bronze laver. As they looked into the water they could see their reflection as well as the blood from their hands in the water.  Christ cleansed us as His church;   "that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5: 26, 27  His blood makes us pure and God sees us through His Son's blood.  Praise the Lord! Of course the sacrificial system was set up to point to the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ.  The Word of God washes us and cleanses us as we read and receive knowledge of who we are in Christ.

So YOU are in the Bible, it was written to YOU and for YOU.  How wonderful that we have this inspired Book, the incomparable Word of the Living God.  I pray we will all hunger and thirst for it, take it to heart, obey it and learn who We are and most of all who He is.  

"For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim blurred reflection of reality as in a riddle or enigma, but then, when perfection comes, we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part, (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood by God".  I Corinthians 13:12 Amplified version.

"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power (making it active, operative, energizing, and effective); it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and (the immortal) spirit, and of joints and marrow (of the deepest parts of our nature), exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart" Hebrews 4:12 Amplified version

Breathe on us Holy Spirit as we read the Word of God.  May we see Jesus and the truth about who we are and who He is.  Thank you for the Living Word and Holy Spirit. Increase our hunger for You O God.

In His Love,

Candy Kloxin