Month: April 2021

Have You had Your Vaccination?

/ Karen / 4 Comments

Today’s most popular topic of conversation revolves around the question, Have you had your Covid vaccination?

I’m not going to meddle in anyone’s personal decision, whether it’s a Sign me up, gotta have it or a No thanks, I’ll pass response. Much debate bats back and forth and will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Instead, I want to inquire about your spiritual vaccination.

A Spiritual Vaccination?

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: (Psalm 103: 2 NKJV)

As Christians, let’s remind ourselves of the wonderful “vaccination” of benefits we receive from the Lord, beginning at salvation. Here’s one list from Psalm 103. It is the Lord Jesus…

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:3-5 NKJV

His shed blood erases our sins and heals us from sickness and disease (v.3).

The wonderful feeling of freedom from all guilt and shame is only available at the foot of the cross through the blood of the Lamb. God casts our sins into the Sea of Forgetfulness and never fishes for them again. Also, the blood Jesus shed at the whipping post heals us from sickness and disease. Our spirits mature in His blessed sanctification, and the Lord clothes us in His robes of righteousness.

As our Redeemer, He mends the breaches in the walls of our souls and pulls us out of destruction (v.4a)

This last year has inundated us with varied breaches of one kind or another. We may have experienced overwhelming physical, mental, financial, or emotional hardships that have punched like a fist out of the blue. Regardless of the destruction we may have suffered, Jesus is our wall mender. He builds back the places that have holes to make us complete in Him. We can place whatever needs repair at the foot of the cross and rest assured that the carpenter from Nazareth will mend the breaches in our lives.

He blesses us with His tender love, overflowing with kindness and mercy (v.4b).

The Bible warns that in the Last Days, men’s love will grow cold. Witnessing riots, shootings, and lawlessness strips souls of innocence and hardens hearts. The remedy? Spending time with Jesus in prayer and reading God’s Word. He restores our damaged hearts with His tender love, kindness, and mercy, which we then freely give away to others. As David writes in Psalm 23, He restores my soul (v.3) and Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (v. 6).

He blesses us with good food for a healthy life and slows down our aging process (v.5).

Choosing whole organic foods is our ticket to good health and long life. The expression, You are what you eat, is full of wisdom. God has provided us with all good things which we can fully enjoy for our physical and spiritual health: O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8).

A spiritual vaccine passport?

Along with the vaccine debate is the idea of the vaccine passport, which would divide everyone into one of two camps: either freedom to move about normally or imprisonment. How does the idea of a “vaccine passport” apply to us spiritually?

Did you know that believers have marks in the spirit?

The born-again Christian has a passport of freedom that God bestows on each one at the point of salvation. Let’s look at Scripture in Leviticus 8:22 where sacrificial blood was applied to the right ear lobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe. Blood on the ear symbolizes the mind of Christ to think pure thoughts; the thumb symbolizes our hands to do the work of the Lord, and the toe represents our commitment as the Lord’s servants to follow where He leads.

Another important benefit is our “passport” into heaven.

At salvation, all believers’ names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 21: 27 describes the New Jerusalem as follows: …And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (NASB). Consequently, at the judgment of sinners (called the Great White Throne Judgment), those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity (Revelation 20:15).

Have you had your spiritual vaccination yet?

Debate may rage over the Covid vaccine, but not over God’s spiritual vaccine. Its safety and benefits cancel all debate. If you’ve never accepted Jesus as Savior, today is the day to receive salvation and rejoice as the angels write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This spiritual vaccination cleanses us of sin, transforms us into a child of God, and guarantees our entrance into heaven where all believers will live with the Lord for eternity.

Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah

Psalm 68:19 NKJV

Thank you, Lord, for the many benefits we enjoy as believers. We praise you for spiritually vaccinating us with Your blood against sin, sickness, and disease. Thank you for our spiritual passport that marks us for blessings on earth and opens the doors of heaven to us in eternity. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

Have You had Your Vaccination? by Karen Jurgens copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God

/ Karen / 4 Comments
The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God by Karen Jurgens
 
Who desires God’s blessings today? Let’s come together in His house for spiritual refreshment.
 
How lovely is Your tabernacle,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You.
Selah
 
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage?
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob!
Selah
 
God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You! ~ Psalm 84 NKJV
 

Which lines of this psalm speak to you today?

Dear Heavenly Father, draw our hearts to You today in true worship. May we find rest and strength for our souls in Your house. Protect us in these days where wickedness dwells openly in the land. Give us Your grace, fill our lives with good things, and bless us with Your presence as we place our trust in You, our Redeemer and Lord. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

 
 

The Passion of Christ

/ Karen / 6 Comments
The Passion of Christ

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness…

Romans 3:23-25a NKJV

How will you be spending Good Friday this year? My desires today are:

  • to humble myself before Him;
  • to be still and know that He is God, my Saviour, and my Redeemer;
  • to meditate through Scripture on the depths of His sufferings;
  • to remember His sacrifice through taking communion;
  • to thank and worship Him for His gift of salvation;
  • to listen to what the Holy Spirit would speak to me.

On this holy day of Passion week, may we take time to prayerfully ponder the meaning of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. Let’s remember the ways Jesus shed His precious blood and the benefits He purchased for each of us. It cost Him everything, but by His grace, it costs us nothing. How wonderful that salvation is a free gift!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV

Christ shed His blood in seven places.

Let’s discuss the seven places Christ shed His blood (if you wish to read a medical explanation of how Jesus could be born with pure and sinless blood, click HERE).

The seven places where Jesus shed His blood fulfilled Old Testament Scripture in Leviticus 16. When the Jewish High Priest made atonement for the sins of the people once a year, he sprinkled blood seven times on the mercy seat, seven times in front of the mercy seat, and seven times on the horns of the altar. (Click HERE to read the full account in Leviticus 16:11-19 NKJV.)

The first place Jesus shed His blood happened during His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44 NKJV). Just as in the Garden of Eden where Man lost his state of innocence through Adam’s sin, it was in this garden that Jesus’s blood began the redemption process for all mankind.

The second place occurred when Pilate ordered His scourging.

They flogged the back of Jesus with thirty-nine lashes–just under the legal limit of forty. “Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26 NKJV). This blood paid for all our sicknesses and diseases: “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5b NKJV).

The bruises he bore under His skin marked the third place He bled for us. 

“Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?’ (Matthew 26:67-68 NKJV). This blood was shed for our inherited weaknesses or iniquities, as Isaiah states. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5a NKJV).

The crown of long thorns the soldiers wove and pushed onto Jesus’s head was the fourth place He shed His holy blood. 

This blood gives us the mind of Christ, freeing our thoughts from the control of the enemy. (Click HERE to read this account in Matthew 27:27-31 NKJV.)

When the centurion drove the nails into Jesus’s hands and feet, these were the fifth and sixth places Christ bled for us. 

His blood-stained hands freed us to receive all that God has for us and to lift our hands in holy prayer (Click HERE to read 1 Timothy 2:8 NKJV). His blood-stained feet gave us back dominion on the earth that we lost through Adam’s sin. Through His blood, we can claim righteousness and power over Satan wherever our feet touch the ground (Click HERE to read Luke 10:19 NKJV).

The blood and water that came out of His side was the seventh place He shed His blood for us. 

After Jesus had surrendered His spirit into God’s hands, the centurion speared His side. (Click HERE to read John 19:31-37 NKJV). The release of blood and water proved medically that Jesus’s heart had burst, making this blood the provision for the healing of our broken hearts.

Dear Lord, may we truly understand the depth of Your love for us. Thank you for suffering and dying in our place on this holy day. We worship You, precious Lamb of God. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

May the Lord touch you as we continue worshiping with “Oh The Blood” by Kari Jobe with Gateway Worship.

The Passion of Christ, copyright 2021 by Karen Jurgens