Week 16 Friday
Today we learn the significance of blood in Leviticus, praise the God who brings victory in Psalm 76, and watch the Spirit guide Paul's team towards Macedonia and Lydia's open home.
Leviticus 17
📖 What are we reading?: Since the shedding of blood held such significance in the sacrificial system, the Israelites are told to be very careful about where they kill animals and what they do with the blood.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He treats life and blood as sacred. This may be why Jesus' listeners were so shocked when He told them to eat His body and drink His blood (John 6).
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Let's thank Jesus today for the blood He shed to make us right with God, and treat His sacrifice with the reverence it deserves.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Leviticus was given to Moses shortly after the tabernacle was completed, around 1400 BC, and no other book in the Bible contains as much direct speech from God. Its theme is holiness and separation, though a careful reader will find Jesus in the details of these ancient rituals.
Psalm 76
📖 What are we reading?: A Psalm of much praise to the God who brings victory.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He is the One we should fear (verse 7) and not humans. He will bring an end to all wars (verse 3), and He is radiant and majestic (verse 4).
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Note verse 11 - we have a responsibility too. Let us make our vows to Him in praise.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: The Psalms is a collection of 150 poems and songs, written by David and others, expressing the full range of human emotion in response to God and to life.
Acts 16:1-15
📖 What are we reading?: Here we meet Timothy, to whom Paul would later write some beautiful letters which we find in our Bibles. The team heads to Macedonia after a vision of Paul's, and in Philippi a lady named Lydia is converted and invites the apostles into her home.
✞ What does this passage say about God? His Spirit guides His people, even closing doors, as in verses 6-7. He also works in Lydia's life in a special way, opening her heart to respond.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Great reliance on the Spirit is evident in the lives of Paul and his companions. Let's stay just as dependent on Him, and follow Lydia's example by opening our homes in hospitality.
Looking for some extra info?
📝 A devotion on Lydia, a woman of hospitality.
➡️ The bigger picture: Luke's second book outlines the ministry of the early church - though it could just as well be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, as He guides and grows Jesus' small movement into something that changes the world.
A Prayer for the Day
🙏 Lord, thank You for the blood of Jesus, that You are radiant, majestic and worthy of our praise, and that Your Spirit guides us and opens hearts. Help us to follow Your leading and to open our homes and hearts to others today. Amen.
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