The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Leviticus 23-25
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 3: The Sinai Covenant and law: God embraces and instructs his people
Background Information: Leviticus 23-25
God designed days of rest, celebration and remembrance into Israel’s calendar. We are designed to work; it is part of God’s good design for humans. We are not designed to merely work, forget why we exist, and then die. The weekly reminder of Sabbath as well as the annual commemorations were God’s strategy for helping his people remember to be grateful and that they are dependent on him. The main biblical annual celebrations that you will read about are given below:
Passover: Commemorates deliverance from Egypt.
Festival of unleavened Bread: Commemorates deliverance from Egypt, includes a day of Firstfruits for barley harvest.
Festival of Weeks/Pentecost: Commemorates the giving of the law, includes day of Firstfruits for the wheat harvest.
Festival of Trumpets: Celebrates the beginning of the new year.
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): The high priest makes atonement for sins.
Festival of Shelters (Tabernacles): Commemorates the time of wandering in the wilderness.
Do you have a daily, weekly, and annual strategy for remembering to be grateful and to remember that you depend on God for your daily bread as well as eternal life? Sunday worship is a good start. You could also find ways to build more intentional gratitude into our annual celebrations of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Maybe the Fourth of July, Birthdays, what else?
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Ask the Lord of the Harvest to raise up laborers for the harvest from River to go to unreached people groups around the world.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.