I have recently read two books for my devotional time in the morning.  One of these books is by Jennie Allen, and this book is called, “The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.”  This book was all about how there are certain lies we as people, especially women commonly believe about ourselves.  These common lies are that we are worthless, helpless, and unlovable.  Jennie personally struggled through the lie of feeling worthless.  When  people believe the lie of being worthless, these are often people who shut down or they are the ones who will try to work extra hard to make up for their feeling of worthlessness. 

Then the second book is a book by Allie Beth Stuckey called, “You are not Enough, and That’s Ok.”  What a title, am I right?  It definitely will probably grip people.  It also probably sounds like just the opposite of what the book by Jennie Allen discussed.   This book is all about how we are not made enough on our own.  We are not made to be.  We were created by God perfectly, yes, but then sin entered the world.  Now we need God to be complete.  We need God to be the most productive person we can be. However, in this world of self-affirmation and self-care, we can easily forget how dependent on God we truly are.  

I would actually say both of these books do a great job of talking about the same problem, but on the opposite side of the coin.  Sometimes we can believe we are worthy just on our own.  We can believe we are important and we can do things to make us happy, even when they don’t.  Then there are other times we feel absolutely worthless or helpless and unlovable, we still go looking to make us feel whole and complete.  Both of these are not looking to God, and both of these are not ultimately the best plan for our lives. 

I realized I have believed both of these thought processes in my life.  I have definitely felt worthless and unlovable in my life.  I often feel bad.  My husband, Cole, is always trying to make sure I don’t feel too bad about something I shouldn’t feel bad about.  He is good about reminding me to forgive and be less hard on myself.  I needed both of these books to be a reminder for myself.  I don’t need to believe the lie of being  worthless or unlovable.  However, I also don’t need to have the mindset of just working hard or making up for any bad thoughts or bad decisions.  I need to depend on God for growth and development.  

Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of who we are and who God has created us to be.  We are reminded of our fulfillment through Christ and not through our own self and through our own decisions.  Some of these verses are Psalm 51: 10-13 which says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.”  This reminds us to depend on God to create in us a new heart, and a new spirit.  We are dependent on Him in this, and not on our own. 

There are many times we can start to devote ourselves and believe there are other things making us who we are as opposed to God.  This can be our relationship status or our job status.  It could be our accomplishments such as in exercise or in our other hobbies.  This could be in our beauty or in our health.  There are many different ways we can try to find ourselves in things of this world as opposed to the Lord.  It can be very hard to avoid the temptations of the world and all the world tells us to believe.  

The challenge for this week is to spend time being reflective over what you believe about yourselves.  I don’t believe we should think bad about ourselves or think we are worthless or unlovable.  This ultimately isn’t productive and more importantly, it isn’t what God wants us to feel like.  However, on the other hand, we should not think ourselves completely worthy of everything just on our own merit.  There is a healthy balance to find.  One that can really and truly, only be found with God.  This is spending time focusing on God and His importance in life.  

A few weeks ago, I was given a great opportunity.  There is a family at my church who I have gotten to know over these past few years who is sadly going through a rough time.  They have a child who is suffering from cancer.  I can only imagine the stress and anxiety this can cause.  I am not a mother, especially not of multiple children, and I don’t have to feel the struggle of trying to heal one of these children. 

A woman from our church created a Meal Train for members of the church to create a meal once a week for this family. I signed up to make spaghetti and meatballs which is something I really love, as well as brownies and garlic bread.  This was so much fun to make.  I have recently fallen in love with cooking and baking and this was a great opportunity to practice while serving those of the church body.  I especially love making spaghetti and meatballs, because I do genuinely love it as a food and I find it really fun to form and bake meatballs. 

Now, I don’t say this to make myself superior or to be arrogant.  I am actually writing about this because I was initially nervous about making this meal.  I have seen many different opportunities pass by to make meals for those who are suffering in the past, and I usually don’t sign up.  I have given donations or sent a gift card here and there, but I haven’t usually offered a personally made meal.  This was because I was often uncomfortable or anxious about it.  What if I make something they don’t like?  What if I make the food taste bad or wrong?  What if I don’t make enough food? However, I now know it can be something to do that is helpful for members of my church and/or those who are struggling.

I found a lot of joy doing this.  As I mentioned above, I have found a lot more joy recently when it comes to cooking and baking in general, so it was very nice to use this new love and desire for other people.  I am now going to be more challenged to complete any future Meal Trains for those who I know and love and in my community.  I am going to look forward to it in the future because I know this is a great way to spend my time serving others.  I hopefully won’t be as nervous to sign up now.

However, there are many things still very much out of my comfort zone that I don’t find myself doing on a regular basis. One of those things is spending time telling others about Jesus.  I will sometimes tell others about going to church and spending time with the Lord through my devotionals in the mornings.  I will then, of course, write this blog post and those who read this on a regular basis know my relationship with God.  However, I don’t really spend a lot of time talking to others about their relationship with God and if there is anything I can teach them about God.  I don’t spend time inviting people to my church as much as I should. 

One verse giving comfort to those who are stepping out of comfort zones is 2 Timothy 1:7 which says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”  We are given a Holy Spirit when we become a Christian, and this is incredibly helpful to us.  This helps give us guidance, hope, and strength.  When there are times we are filled with dread or with fear or even just general nervousness about something, it can be good to first spend time in prayer for the strength of the Spirit.  

The challenge for the week is to think about what are some things out of your comfort zone.  This could be making a meal for a family who is struggling or is experiencing a major life moment similar to something I did recently.  This could be asking someone if you can pray over them.  This could be starting a Bible Study with a group of women who are in your school or who you work with.  This could be having open discussions about belief in a place where it is not always respected or appreciated.  

My challenge for myself again is going to be telling more people I encounter about Christ.  I want to share more of what God has done in my life and what he wants to do in others lives.  I also want to be a mentor to a young woman in my church and or to a few different women in my church.  I have loved the opportunities to disciple or to give a Bible study with those around me, and I need to be more bold about trying to lead one.  I know I have mentioned this many times throughout this blog, but I haven’t actually taken the steps to complete this. My next step should be to make a plan in place for this dream and desire of mine to become a reality.

I have just finished the devotional study on the book of Hebrews.  This book is really great and it really provides a lot of insight. This book has been very insightful and has really taught me a lot about Jesus and how well He is at being our better everything. 

In the last chapter of the book of Hebrews, there is a plea from the author who is unknown for prayers as they continue to lead a group of people.  This is because they know it can be really hard to be a spiritual leader for other people.  This is an important role, and it is not one to be taken lightly.  It is a big decision to decide to lead a group of people in a way to be closer to Christ.  It is also one taken over by a lot of spiritual warfare.  Satan will work extra hard to take down any member of the church, especially one who is doing a lot of work and is really developing disciples. 

The verse brought up about praying for the leaders is Hebrews 13:7 which says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” This is a verse as a reminder to pray for those who are working for the Lord.  This isn’t just for them to stay healthy and to stay safe, but rather for them to make wise decisions.  This is to pray over their work in the Word and with the congregation.  This is to pray they feel equipped and led by the Holy Spirit to lead others in the church. 

This was a good reminder to myself that I am not always the best at praying for the pastors and the spiritual leaders who I know.   I don’t always think about them as a group of people in great need of prayer.  However, this verse and devotion was a good reminder to me about taking the time to think of them.  Through my church, I have developed more and more in praying for missionaries, so I can definitely spend time praying for my pastors and spiritual leaders in my church.  

The challenge for the week is to spend time praying for your pastor. This could be by yourself and spending time praying over the pastors when doing your private Bible study or devotion.  This could be spending time a few minutes a week in extra prayer time.  Then it could also be as a group.  It could be getting together with a group of women or men from your church and spending a good amount of time praying for the pastors and the other spiritual leaders of the church to feel God’s Holy Spirit, to feel his grace as well as to feel they are making wise and smart choices. 

The next challenge could be to spend time finding a way to encourage the pastors and the spiritual leaders at your church. Is there a way you could send them a card or write them a note to let them know you are praying for them, and show how much you appreciate them. I felt really bad a few months back when I missed the opportunity to send some cards to the pastors for their national pastoral week. I will definitely make sure to write that down in my calendar for this upcoming year. 

Another way to encourage is through finding ways to serve them.  This could be in many different ways and through different programs at the church.  It could also be through getting a group to make them meals when there is a really busy season of life.  This could be through checking in on them and asking to help with any childcare if they should need it.  

I should say this doesn’t always have to be just the pastors, but it can be all missionaries or it can be all our Bible Study leaders and ministers who we know are also diligently serving the Lord and serving the people in the church.  They also need our support and our prayers.  This could also be the wives of the pastors and prominent members.  They see the hardship and the strife their husbands face on a regular basis.  We need to be good members of the body and this means we can not forget about those who are at the top.

At church, we have been going through the book of Nehemiah.  I really have enjoyed the sermons I have gotten to listen to so far in this book.  The question that has been asked to us as a congregation is “What are you building for the Lord?”  The idea is talking and thinking about what we are working on for the glory of God?  Are we working on certain relationships to bring them closer to the Lord? Are we working on serving the Lord on a regular basis through our jobs? Are we involved in our church community?

The book of Nehemiah discussed the prophet of Nehemiah who spent a lot of time building the wall from the capture of Babylon.  Before Nehemiah came along, the people of Israel weren’t rebuilding this wall.  They were just letting the walls stay on the ground.  They were incredibly discouraged by the first capturing of Babylon.  They didn’t see the benefit of finding ways to protect their city.  

Nehemiah would see this as apathy which is exactly what it was. The people knew there was work that could be done around the country.  There was rubble all around the city gates as opposed to the nice wall around the city protecting the people and the temple which is the house of the Lord.  The people didn’t want to take the time to clean up the place and make it look amazing for the Lord. 

Nehemiah took it upon himself to build up the city walls and gates.  He took it upon himself to make the city protected once again for many years to come.   This wasn’t the easiest task. One building  a wall is hard work and then two, he had people who were making the work more difficult. There were people who disagreed with him and the work he was doing.  There were people who were trying to discourage him from continuing his work.  There were people who didn’t think he was doing a great job.  

The question becomes, What are you building? What are you working on for the Lord, even when people disagree with you?  This doesn’t just include what you are building for yourself.  For example, you could be building up yourself more and more in your career.  You could be building a portfolio for your future self.  These are all good as well, but is there something you are working towards for the Lord? Is there a way you can start building something for God in your daily life?

If I had to say what I was building, I believe I am first building a strong marriage with my husband.  We are still in our first year of marriage, so we are still learning everything that comes with being married.  We are still learning how to best communicate, how to talk through disagreements and hurt, how to serve one another, etc. There are so many good moments, but there are still moments when it is hard. I am continuously learning new and different ways I can be a better wife and finding ways to serve Cole to the best of my ability.  I want to be the best and Godly wife I can be and I’m glad I have the Holy Spirit to help me.  

I am also building at my work.  I work with families and kids who are low-income in Waterloo.  This is a very important group to work with, and I am honored and blessed with the opportunity to serve this group of people.  However, there are times when it can be frustrating, as all jobs and all peoples can be at times.  I need to remember to have the love for these families we serve. 

One thing I want to continue to grow in is finding ways to build up a community of disciples. When I was in college, I had the wonderful privilege to lead a Bible Study and disciple/meet one on one with some girls. I have missed those times with those girls, and I am hoping to make an opportunity to meet with more people to talk about Jesus. 

One verse that continues to discuss this theme is Psalm 90:17 which says, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” I love this verse because it reminds us that God wants to establish the work he wants us to do.  Yes, we can have passions and dreams.  God is the one who put them in our minds to have those thoughts and dreams in the first place.  The reason we are as we are is because of God creating us uniquely and differently than anyone else.  Therefore, He has a great plan in mind for what we can build for Him. 

The challenge for this week is to think about what you are building? What are you making for God? What unique qualities has he given you to create something for his kingdom?

If you ask the majority of Christians of which Testament of the Bible they prefer out of the Old and New Testament, I would not be surprised if most declared the New Testament.   I would even say I enjoy reading through the New Testament more than the Old Testament.  It holds the story of Jesus from His Birth, to His ministry, and to His death and resurrection.  Plus it goes through the beginning of the church and spreading of the ministry.  However, this is not to say that the Old Testament doesn’t matter.  The Old Testament holds great truths, and great insight to the way we can live even in post New Testament time.  There are still great examples of faith, of love, of bravery, and of commitment to the Lord.  

I have been continuing my study of the book of Hebrews.  As I have mentioned before, this book is incredibly insightful and has really good knowledge on who Christ is and what he has all done for us. Through the reading of the Hebrews, I have found it makes a lot of references to the Old Testament. I have read through the book of Hebrews in the past, but I wasn’t aware of just how much information and quotation it had from pieces of the Old Testament. 

The book of Hebrews has focused on how Jesus is the better Moses, the best and final priests, the final sacrifice, the perfect covenant, and the perfect tabernacle. However, to better understand what all these items are and how important they are to the foundation of the Gospel, we had to first go back to the Old Testament and read about them.  

The priests were essential because these were the people who were chosen to make the sacrifices, so the people would be forgiven for their current sins.  It couldn’t forgive them forever, but it could put the people in better standing with God for the time being.  The reason Jesus was the better priest is because he was able to offer His sacrifice of His perfect body that had never known sin.  Then because of that, we were given the opportunity to be forgiven forever and have a chance at eternity with God.   

Jesus was also the better and perfect covenant.  He was the only human who was completely perfect and never sinned.  He followed the Covenant of the Old Testament completely and wholly.  He also fulfilled all the prophesies.  He also would also be the better tabernacle.  The Tabernacle served as God’s dwelling place on earth.  Now after Christ’s sacrifice, we have the opportunity to have the Holy Spirit which is the dwelling place of God now in all of us.  This is only through Christ and his sacrifice.  We now have direct access to God through our faith in Jesus and Him serving as our advocate and mediator.  

The book of Hebrews also follows a lot of the main leaders of the faith throughout the Old Testament.  These leaders were very foundational of the beginning of the faith in God.  This goes through Abraham, Jacob, Abel, Enoch, and Moses, as well as many others.  These leaders are honored for their belief in God.  These leaders are meant to be used as an example for the believers in the New Testament to today.  

One book of the Bible in the New Testament, Luke, also reiterates the importance of the Old Testament.  This is in Luke 24:44 which says, “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”   The Old Testament wrote a lot about Jesus through the prophecies.  Because of this, the Old Testament really focuses on Jesus and how important He is to be saved for eternity.    We wouldn’t know Jesus’ importance and how long the people had been promised him if we didn’t first read their perspectives and thoughts on the people in the past.  

There are two challenges for this week.  The first challenge is to spend some time reading the Old Testament.  This could be finding a study on the Old Testament and reading through what this study teaches you.  This could be picking a book from the Bible and reading through it in its entirety, taking notes and highlighting important sections or making note of the things you want to better understand.  This could be spending time listening to the Old Testament chapters on an audio book or in a Bible app.  This could be meeting up with someone to discuss a book about the Old Testament.  

The second challenge is to find a character or person from the Bible who you admire when it comes to their faith.  This character and person doesn’t have to be perfect.  No one is, except for the Lord.  However, there are, again, many believers who were big Bible heroes for the Old Testament, and they can give us better ways for how we can live and how we can have faith in the Lord.  

I would like to believe I am a fairly humble person.  However, there are definitely times I take a lot of pride in certain things I do or certain characteristics that make me who I am.  For example, I would like to believe I am a responsible and hardworking person.  I hold myself very high at work.  I like to think I get mostly everything done on time.  I am the place where I need to be.  I hardly ever forget anything.  I take a lot of pride in doing a good job.  It is good to care about our work, but there are definitely times when I let this pride become too much.  I may become too prideful and maybe even boastful.

However, I make some mistakes.  I realize at first I want to blame someone else.  I want to blame other people for not being very good about informing me or not helping me out, when in reality, it is my fault.  I am the one who made the mistake or who was not responsible.  It is good for me to make mistakes and be aware of my humanity.  Recently I made a fairly big and irresponsible mistake. (I am not going to fully disclose it here for different reasons)  Luckily I realized the mistake before anything terrible happened.  However, this was very hard for me to accept at first.  I felt absolutely terrible.  I was also grateful to the Lord for helping me realize this mistake before even worse things could have taken place. 

I have felt this way other times recently in the past, when it comes to forgetting a meeting at work, or when I am running late for a volunteering event, or when I don’t get all the hours done at work I am supposed to in a week.  These are all very common mistakes or issues many other people make.  However, I just really struggle with these moments. I struggle because I want to feel responsible, independent, and really close to perfect at my job or my leadership opportunities.  I need to be reminded that I am not perfect.  I am not going to be perfect.  There are going to be times when I mess up, when I sleep in, when I forget. However, I need to be more willing to be more humble and to ask for help and to rely on the Lord more.  

The Bible talks about humility often.  It is mentioned about 80 to 100 times throughout the Bible.  One of those verses is James 4:10 which says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  I do really enjoy this verse because it reminds me to be humble and to not put oneself as high or important because the Lord will lift up the humble person.  The Lord will see the humility and the meekness in individuals.  He will help them develop their relationship with Him for eternity. 

I think the reason I am the most upset about being prideful is the judgemental way I can act or behave.  I will often judge other people for the way they act or the way they forget something or miss something, especially when it is important.  This is the part I am the most upset about being prideful.  I don’t want to let those comparison thoughts start to invade my brain.  I don’t want to think less of other people when they make a mistake, when I need to be more aware of the times I will forget something or when I will make a mistake.  This is not something I should put over other people.  Otherwise, I will start to believe I need God less and less.  

Because of my very recent mistake, I was then recently able to help a fellow friend when they were having a mistake issue.  When they lost something important, I was more sympathetic and humble to help them, then the judgemental thoughts I would have had previously.  My recent mistake reminded me that we all do make mistakes and we do need help or assistance from time to time. 

The challenge for the week is to be reflective over your personal pride.  Are there times you are incredibly prideful and make decisions based on your pride?  Are there times you are feeling more capable of something than maybe you should?  Are there times when maybe you are comparing yourself to others and are thinking of yourself as better than them because of your certain capabilities? 

I know the main way we can overcome these feelings of pride and comparison is through praying to the Lord and to ask for the Holy Spirit to help us become more humble and to be more centered and dependent on the Lord. I pray the humility of the Holy Spirit will come over your heart and your mind.  I pray I will develop more and more humility as well.

Apathy means, lack of interest, enthusiasm and concern.  This can show up in many different places.  Our place of work, our hobbies, and lastly in our relationships.  These relationships can be with significant others.  It can be with our friendships, and it can even be with our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior.   

Both in my daily devotional and at church, we have been talking about the term of apathy.  Apathy not only can show up in many different places, but it can also show up at a variety of different times.  It is important we are aware of the times it pops up, especially when it is with our relationship with Christ. 

Apathy shows up in the Bible very often.  In my devotional study through the book of Hebrews, the author is reminding the Christ followers and Jewish Christians in Rome to not become apathetic in their worship of God, but rather to stay strong, even in the face of persecution. The author of Hebrews, although the author is unknown, shows he understands how persecution hurts a believer and can easily take them away from the Lord.  When one is constantly being threatened or scorned, one can easily let fear, anger, or fatigue take over and take one away from the Lord. 

Then in church, we started going through the book of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was a prophet during the time after the first Babylonian conquest of the Israelite people.  The Israelites had been released from their captivity; however, their city was still in ruins.  The temple had been rebuilt, but the rubble of the first temple and the walls was all over the city.  They didn’t build a new wall for protection.  Nehemiah saw the city and wept.  He didn’t see a people who were filled with pride for their land they received from the Lord.  He saw a group of people who were filled with apathy for what God had given back to them. 

Apathy is dangerous.  When a person is apathetic, especially when it comes to their relationships with Christ, there is a better chance, a person will fall away from their Lord.  Their apathy is opening up their hearts and minds to the temptations for the world.  This is because when we are not super on fire for God, there are other things that look appealing from the world.  There will be people who will tell us things that sound good, even when they are not good.  It is important we keep our mind and our passion on what God says to not become easily swayed.  

A verse about being apathetic is Revelation 3:15-16 which says, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot…So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth”.  This is an important conversation with God and his people.  He doesn’t enjoy the people who are not super passionate or devoted to him.  He would rather have someone who is cold and rejective of Him, than those who are Christians but are filled with apathy for the relationship.   

The challenge for the week is to spend time thinking about your heart.  Are you a person who is on fire for the Lord, or are you just a person who is semi-devoted?  Are you really all in when it comes to your relationship with God, or are you just so-so?  It is important to make sure our hearts are continuously in the right place, and the right stance before God.  This often takes a bit of probing or a bit of reminders on a regular basis.  

I know I personally need to be better about following God and being on fire.  I am good about doing my daily devotionals and going to church.  However, I don’t always go to God first when I am in a problem or a situation.  I will often only go to Him once or twice throughout the day.  I do go to Him about my problems, but I don’t necessarily always believe He will fix the problems or the solutions.  

Do not let the sin of Apathy take over your heart.  Again, this doesn’t just include the times with God, but rather this includes the times at work or in your other relationships.  Apathy can impact a lot of your different pieces of life.  Be reminded of this apathy and find ways to always ignite your passions and your love of different things.  I hope you continuously find the joy and the empathy for all the things going on in your life. 

I am starting my third week in my devotional book on Hebrews in the Bible.  So far, this book has been incredibly insightful.  I was not aware of just how much the book of Hebrews pulled from the other books of the Bible to make their points and to showcase what they were trying to say.  

This chapter I am currently studying in Hebrews is all about how Jesus is better than Moses.  While Moses was a great prophet and a great leader for the Israelites, he was not perfect and he was not god.  Jesus and Moses experienced a similar situation because the people they were leading would find times they didn’t want to be led.  They would run away and they would be afraid for their lives and then create their own plans.  

For Moses, the Israelites were supposed to be going into the promised land, the land promised to them by God, a land flowing of milk and honey.  However, the Israelites were incredibly afraid of the people who were already living there who they were supposed to take the land from.  They didn’t trust God enough to get this promised land from these people.  Because of this, they were very delayed in getting their promised land.  The fear they had kept them away from the true freedom and lovely land they were originally promised.  

One quote from this devotional I really enjoyed was, “Though Israel longed for rest, their unbelief in the One who provides it hardened their hearts and prevented them from being able to experience the rest their bodies and souls craved.” (pg. 65).   I loved this quote.  It reminds me of how easily we as people can harden our hearts against God. We can then block ourselves away from the one who truly matters and can give us the rest and true desires of our hearts. 

There are many verses about finding freedom, true freedom in Christ.  One of them is Galatians 5:1 which says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Here, Galatians is not talking about slavery in the traditional sense of what we think about when we think about slavery, but rather talking about the slavery to sin we have all experienced at one time or another.  This is the slavery to anxiety.  This is the slavery to fear.  This is slavery to the things of this world.  

I am often a person who is incredibly anxious, which I talk a lot about in this blog.  I often get anxious about work, about my relationships, the other groups and activities I am a part of, health, and various other stresses popping up from time to time.  I wish I could be a person who is restful and who doesn’t get overly stressed or anxious about any problems or situations arising.  However, I know I have a God I can turn to when these moments come around.  

The next day, the devotional continued into this thought about true rest.  This was saying, “Our superior savior invites us into a rest that is better than anything this world has to offer–a rest we can experience both now in the life to come. (pg. 68).  This is a reminder that we are not meant to be a part of this world forever.  We are not meant to be a part of the world or to bank on staying in this world.  We are meant to be a part of eternal life with Christ once we become a Christian and are saved through Him. 

The challenge for the week is to spend time resting in the Lord. This could be spending time reading the Bible, and learning about all what the Lord has to teach us in His Word.  This could be spending time in prayer and getting the chance to talk to the Lord and finding rest for your soul in that way.  It could be spending time talking to a trusted fellow brother and sister in Christ and asking them to be there for you as you struggle through these moments of anxiety or stress. I pray you can find true freedom.  The freedom only to be found in Christ, both for the while we are on this earth and in our eternity with God in heaven.

I just started a devotional book from the Daily Grace Company over the book of Hebrews.  This book is called, “Jesus is Better: Living for the One who is worthy,” by Tiffany Dickerson. One of the first devotional entries I read today was perfect for Easter coming up this week.  The book of Hebrews showcases Jesus as a few perfect things.  He is the perfect Son, the Perfect Savior, the Perfect embodiment of the Law, the Perfect Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice.  

In the Old Testament, Priests were incredibly important.  They were the ones who were in charge of the sacrifices the people brought in order to be saved from their sins.  However, even though priests were important, they were still not perfect.  They had to follow certain rules and regulations in order to be good priests.  Jesus is already perfect, and therefore He would have the ability to be the most perfect priest.  However, Jesus chose to not just be a priest.  He chose instead to sacrifice his body for the good of man.  

Usually in the Old Testament was the use of animals, fairly perfect and good animals, in order to be a good and useful sacrifice.  This sacrifice would also only work for a short period of time.  However, Jesus is our perfect sacrifice. He is often considered to be a perfect lamb.  He is the only one who can be sacrificed who can forgive our sins. He chose to become the sacrificial lamb in order to save people for eternity as opposed to saving people for a short period of time like the Priest’s sacrifice did.  

This is said in this way through this quote:  “And Jesus functions as both priest and sacrifice.  By living an innocent life, unblemished by sin, Jesus became our perfect sacrifice.  And through His death, He served as the final Priest, achieving complete purification and ending the need for a blood sacrifice forever.  Therefore He is our better and final priest.” (pg.29) Again, because Jesus chose to be a perfect sacrifice, he became our final priest. We never have to make any more sacrifices.  We still sin, and we are still going to sin, but we have a new opportunity to ask for forgiveness.  This is through prayer and relationship with Jesus Christ. 

This Easter Season, we can be reminded of God as our perfect priest and as a perfect sacrifice.  This past Friday, we celebrated and honored Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross for our sins.  Then we on Sunday celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. He was able to complete what many people had to do for centuries.  This is preparing the sacrifice.  This is finding the sacrifice, the best animal in order to create the best sacrifice for all people.  This took following certain rules and regulations.  He did it all, and He did it all for us. 

One verse I thought really captured this message of Jesus as both the great priest and sacrificial lamb is 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 which says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 

This verse reminds us of who God is.  He again was the Passover Lamb who was able to be sacrificed for the good of all people and for all the sins we have committed.   Jesus is also compared to unleavened bread.  During Passover, the Jewish people would have eaten unleavened bread after the sacrifices were completed.  This would be during the time of Passover as well as during the festival for right after Passover.  Because of this, it is a very important food for the Israelites.  Jesus is compared to the unleavened bread because now it will be a time of celebration.  He has died as our perfect sacrifice and now all people can celebrate the endless salvation.  This is the truest and most sincere form of this bread and celebration, hence why they call it the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

The challenge for the week is to spend some time praising God for this Easter season.  This isn’t just to celebrate for one day because it is Easter, but rather to spend some time in praise this week for what God has done for you and what He will continue to do in your life for the rest of time.  

I hope you have a blessed Easter day and season.  I hope you can remember Christ as both the perfect Priest and sacrifice.  I hope you can remember what God has done for you.  When we spend time remembering the Gospel message, we are less likely to be distracted by the things that are coming up in this world.  When we remember the relationship we have in Christ, we are less likely to go looking for the things in this world, people will say are the things we need to be happy.  We can hear a lot of the things that are supposed to make us happy, but we need to remember none of these things are true.  We just need Jesus, our true and perfect priest and sacrifice.

Recently at church, we have been going through the book of James.  Personally, the book of James is one of my favorites.  This last week we were in James chapter 4 verses 13-17 as well as chapter 5 verses 1-6.  The last few verses of chapter 4 discusses our ability to focus a lot on our plans.  We can make plans and decisions, very far in advance.  We can believe very heavily in our plans.  However, sometimes this can hurt our relationship with God.  Similarly, The first few verses of chapter 5 discusses our relationship we can have with money.  We as people, even as Christians, can make a lot of decisions around money, which can also in turn affect our relationship with God. 

It is important to focus on things like plans and money.  We don’t have to be completely flippant with either one of these items.  We should make plans and can even sometimes make promises to one another.  We are in a society, sanctioned by God, to do our jobs and follow through on those.  We also have been given resources such as money by God.  This is something we should be wise with.  We need to make sure we are using these resources wisely.  However, we need to make sure we are not letting either one of these things become a god in our lives. 

I am personally a planner.  I am a planner to an uncomfortable degree for a lot of people.  When I first started dating Cole, he really noticed how many plans I would make a long time in the future. He would find it hard initially to plan out the dates with me, especially any fun surprises.  I have really been working on this.  I still plan a lot of things in advance, but I have tried to be more conscious of planning too many things.  I try to keep a lot of Saturdays open, so there will be time for Cole and I to spend time together, or at least go and do our hobby of Pokemon together. 

However, I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about how important it is for God to do my planning.  I almost over plan to the point that I don’t necessarily spend time thinking about how God wants me to spend my time.  This will be sometimes when I feel I am too busy when I am getting called to do something in church. I will have too much to do.  I have been called through this sermon to offer my time more to God.  

This can remind me of the verse in Proverbs 16:9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  Plans are not a bad thing.  We can make plans.  We can follow through on our promises, these are very important.  However, it is also important to be aware of what God has in His will for us.  We need to be willing to change our plans and our steps when the Lord calls us.  This is being willing to listen to his thoughts before we make the plan initially.  Spending time in prayer before we establish big life changes and plans is important and essential for our daily walk with Christ. 

The other way we can play God is with our money.  Money is such an important piece of our life.  It is the currency of how we are able to establish all of our needs-food, water, shelter, clothes, etc.  However, this is also the thing that often controls a lot of people’s thoughts and actions.   For a lot of people, especially today, there is a lot of fear associated with money and paying for things and having security.  

I will be honest when I say I wasn’t  the best at money when I was a young adult.  I kind of just spent money as I wanted when I was working a full time job.  I did pay for my student loans, and paid all of my other bills, but I spent a lot of money on stupid things.  I did give donations, but sometimes I would overgive money on gifts for other people.  Now today, I am working on making a lot of better changes and spending my money wisely and spending time working on my budget plan.  My husband has definitely been a big part of this as well.  He is very wise with money and has taught me a lot of tips and tricks.  

I also have a job now where I teach financial literacy lessons to kids who have grown up in poverty.  I don’t want them to make choices to also land them into poverty.   I want them to put themselves in better positions.  I also hope they don’t let money dominate their lives.  It can be easy to do either when you grow up in poverty or when you grow up in wealth.  It is very important to learn the balance between making wise choices with money while also not letting it become a god in your personal life.  

The challenge for this week is to spend some time in reflection and prayer.  Are there times, you personally try to play God, especially when it comes to things like time and money?  Are there times you believe you can make better choices and plans than God when it comes to money and time? If so, spend some time in prayer asking God to help you overcome this desire to have these thoughts.