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Hebrews 5 Devotional – Day 4

ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness

GOD IS INFINITE – God is limitless. God is not limited by anything outside of His character. This applies to all of God’s attributes.

Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

Praise God because He is Infinite.
We are finite and as such we cannot fully fathom infinity. God is not limited by time or space. Praise Him because He has been present in every place. Praise Him because he has been present for every person for all of time. Praise Him because each and everyday He has acted with wisdom, love, grace, justice, and mercy. Praise him because He will never exhaust His ability to demonstrate His character.

CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100

SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.

  • Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
  • Pray for Christian Challenge as they meet through the Summer. Ask God to strengthen their community and challenge them in their faith.

SCRIPTURE READING:
Hebrews 5 – The Message
When the Promises Are Mixed with Faith

1-3 Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.

4-6 No one elects himself to this honored position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”

7-10 While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.

Re-Crucifying Jesus

11-14 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:

This morning, look back to Hebrews 4:14 as we think about applying these truths about Jesus being our Great High Priest: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

The author of Hebrews makes a clear connection between the theological truth that Jesus is our Great High Priest and the command to hold fast our confession. In what ways does knowing that Jesus is your Great High Priest encourage you to hold fast to the Christian faith?

What things in your life right now might tempt you to loosen your grip on your faith in Christ? Is there any action you need to take today to “hold fast” your confession?

Participating in the mission of God in a broken culture requires us to hold fast our confession, but to do it with a smile. We must close one hand around a sure confession and open the other hand to care for a world that is collapsing on itself and has no way to save itself. We must close the door on the beliefs of the world but open it to the people who hold them as we show them and tell them about Jesus. What’s a practical way you can practice this in the coming week?

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