Sacrifice – Page 4 – Praying Pint

Clean Heart

“Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?

Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 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. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Ephesians 4:22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness

What does it mean to be cleansed from sin? Why is this important to be cleansed from sin? Sin is doing what is wrong or not doing what is right according to God’s rules. Not knowing these rules or laws or commandments or warnings or promises does not eliminate the wrong being done in our lives. Neglecting God’s word, lack of desire for His word, and no interest listening for His leading, no deep want to please God are not good indicators of a person who (through no work of their own has been cleansed from all the wrongs they have ever done) desires to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God. A person who knows their sin is like scarlet and wants to be made right before God, has a different heart. In their heart, mind, and soul they have chosen their course in this life to be God honoring. Their heart and mind are not clouded over with cultural concept of sin, doing right, doing wrong as means to be made right before God. They absolutely know their is nothing (works) they can do to be made right in God’s eyes because it can not be earned. They know it is by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. Their life is fueled by God’s word, and desire to serve, honor, follow and obey Hm. Choose to hear His voice. Choose to obey it. Choose to humbly serve Him each day over self. Choose to read His word. Choose to give. Choose to be kind. Choose to have patience. Choose to …… for the single purpose of honoring God in your life.

Depart from Me, I never knew you!

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Psa 50:7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

This is what God says: “For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.” “But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!” and “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Do we see these comments directed at us or someone else? Do we look intently into our heart with God’s word and seeking for Him to expose our luke warmness toward humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him? Do we choose to hear His voice through His word? If we are not choosing to spend time in His word how will we recognize Him speaking to us? How will we know how to humbly serve, or honor, or trust, or glorify, or follow and obey Him? Do we think for a minute that this comes through osmosis? No we must dedicate ourselves to it, desire it, and recognize the culture we live in is trying to (and easily does) pull us away for meaningless matters that do nothing for our soul and robs us of our purpose for God. Choose this day to make a change. Choose to spend time in His word and encourage others to do the same.

Limping along 1

“There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.”

“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!”

Psalms 50:1 The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice! The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge!

Joshua 22:22 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today

Nehemiah 9:6 “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

Jeremiah 32:18 You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

In this Psalm we see the greatness of God who is worthy to be praised. Yet other scripture calls us out – “how long will you go limping between two different opinions” “but they have rebelled against me”. Limping between and rebelling against what? I think we limp and rebel along these lines; Giving and keeping, content and wanting, at peace and being anxious, faith and no faith, Resting and unrest, joy and unhappiness, belief and unbelief, allowing ourselves to be wronged and being critical of others, trusting and questioning, listening and not wanting to hear, time for God…. There is no need to limp along and rebel against God. Our lives are so much better when we choose to follow Him and humbly serve, honor and obey. Look to the one who is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. Spend time in His word and believe He is sovereign, holy, mighty, loving, powerful, God forever to be praised and worshiped.

Open Ear Warnings

“then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,”

Psalms 40:6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Psalms 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Isaiah 1:11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

Jeremiah 7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Hosea 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Hebrews 10:5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

John 7:15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.

Proverbs 15:23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

God opens the ear of man and terrifies them with warnings! He does this so that we freely choose to listen, follow, and obey Him. How many times are we trying to make ourself right before God but in the end it is only right in our own eyes. God wants willful obedience from us, not our attempts to cover up or atone for the things we are doing in disregard of Him. Why is it so hard to deny self and live for Him? We choose to open His word and read it. We choose to stay close to Him. We choose to listen to His leading. We choose to follow His path and purpose for our life. We choose to serve Him. We choose to obey Him. We choose to honor and glorify Him. What choice are you making today?

Stronghold in time of Trouble

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalms 37:39 The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Psalms 3:8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!

Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jonah 2:9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

Colossians 1:11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

2 Corinthians 1:9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again

Isaiah 33:2 O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

Psalms 9:9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

How many times do we face trouble and fall into the trap of worry, fret, impatience, and unrest? It is easy isn’t it. God can be our refuge, strength, hope, joy, peace, rest and power if we but go to Him and leave it in His all powerful hands. I recently faced a couple of issues that were eating at me and for over two weeks I kept them to myself and did not leave them or even take them to my heavenly Father. Those two weeks were filled with anxiousness, worry, and with out hope yet my first inclination was to try to handle this myself. Every attempt failed and fueled the worry and anxiousness. Then laying on my pillow I asked for His help. Amazing both of these issues came with resolution. I should not be amazed though should I. God is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. I should not look with amazement but rather with trust and know without doubt that God is sovereign and in control and will handle this in His time with His purpose.

Praise Him

“But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.”

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?“

Psalms 33:1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

Psalms 97:12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalms 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalms 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Psalms 135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!

Isaiah 42:10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth

Psalms 98:1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

Ezekiel 33:31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.

Isaiah 29:13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

Deuteronomy 5:28 “And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Psalms 106:12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

Praising God, shouting for joy, singing a new song, being glad, rejoicing, and giving thanks are all actions that come from a heart and mind serving God with reverence, awe and wonder. We choose to do these actions and at the same time they are a natural outpouring of our soul to God for the great compassion and love He has shown and will continue to show to those who seek, serve and follow Him. Do you find these actions a natural outpouring in your life? They should be. If they aren’t ask God to open your eyes to the many wonders and blessings given to us. The blessing of promises that He will guide us, lift us up, protect us, be our strength, our hope, our joy, our peace, our place of rest. The blessings of His word. The blessings of fellow believers. The blessings of the Holy Spirit. The blessings of salvation through Jesus Christ. The blessings of forgiveness. The blessings and wonders of creation. The list of blessings is endless. Praise His name, shout for joy, sing, be glad, rejoice, and give thanks.

Spirit fill me

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

Judges 17:6
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Deuteronomy 12:8
“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.

Proverbs 12:14
From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good,
and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 21:1
he king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked, are sin.

John 16:7
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

During the time of Samson it was recorded that the people did what was right in their own eyes because there was no leadership in the ways of God. When they had a leader who purposed and desired to follow God they had peace but when that leader and people lost focus and fell away from serving God there was punishment, exile, slavery, death, famine, floods, wars, destruction, drought, no blessing, no hope, no faith. I am not sure we truly grasp just how much blessing we are living in since the time of Christ. Before Christ died He told the disciples that He must go away because if He didn’t the “Helper” would not come. The Helper is the Holy Spirit and would be ever present in the world to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. No longer would it depend on a prophet, king, or someone else – God would be omnipresent. We live in a time where the Spirit of God is speaking to our hearts, minds and souls to lead us on paths that glorify and honor God. If we choose to listen and obey we find peace. If we choose to “do what is right in our own eyes” we find unrest, hopelessness, no peace or at best temporary peace without any satisfaction. Choose to be a vessel for God, listening to and being guided by the Holy Spirit.

Who – Me?

Judges 6:25
That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night

Exodus 34:13
You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

More than 500 years prior to Gideon God gave the Israelites a command and warning. Tear down these false idols for they worship a false god. Tear them down because it will be very easy for you to join them and follow the ways of those who do not worship Me the true God. As I look at our culture it seems this is still true for us today. Easy to adopt the ways of the culture. I wonder if this is due to our lack of spending time in His word.

Gideon was from the weakest clan and least in his fathers house. God chose him. Gideon was willing yet he still had that human part of doubt when he asked – how can “I “save Israel. It is natural for us to look at our weaknesses and automatically assume God can not use us. Moses said something similar – I cannot speak to pharaoh or lead the Israelites as I am weak in speech and stutter. We may have weaknesses but it is not in our strength that God will use us. More than likely it will be in our weaknesses. I think we turn our ears off to hearing God speak into our lives because what we hear is telling us to do something we have no strength or ability in our own power to accomplish. It is in His strength, power and might not ours. It is though faith in His strength, power and might that we are able to say yes Lord I will do it. We do need to take that step forward even with all of the questions pounding around in our head. Like one of the old hymns put it “listen and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, listen and obey”

Sacrifice of Fools

Why do we try so hard to earn our way before God? Do we think we can perform in such a way that it will make us right before God? This type of thinking/life replaces the work of Christ and dilutes faith to keeping a ledger of the good and bad that we do and serves no purpose before the eyes of God. We can never do enough good to replace Grace. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to God but through me. Choose to humbly confess sin and by faith know it is forgiven rather than trying to replace it with a ledger of good/bad.

Matthew 9:12
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. ’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners

Hosea 6:6
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings

1 Samuel 15:22
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams

Ecclesiastes 5:1
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil

Isaiah 1:15
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause

Forgot the Sacrifice

We talk about grace of God many times and sometimes forget the sacrifice of Christ that gave — Good news to the poor, sight to the blind, healing for the broken hearted, freeing us from the sins that we so easily far into… We have much to be thankful for and, as well, reason to live to bring honor and glory to Him

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing