Take 1 minute to read the scripture Take 1 minute to read the thought Take 1 minute to think about them Take 1 minute to pray Take 1 minute to finish your coffee
Leviticus, week 3 Reading
Leviticus 1:9, 13,17
Day 1 Offerings
And the priest shall burn it (Cattle, sheep or doves) on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ESV
Thought -
Leviticus is a continuation of Exodus. At Sinai God gave Israel a special role in the
world, they are to be a nation of priests and holy in all their ways. The law and sacrifices keep them walking with God, five offerings are given in the first five chapters each of which is a way of approaching God for different reasons. They are learning through these offerings to live with a Holy God. All these offerings find their fulfillment in Jesus and they ceased after the resurrection of Jesus at the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus’ offering of himself is a sweet smelling savor to us and the giving of our lives to Him a fragrant offering too Him.
Prayer “Help me leave something good in the room everywhere I go, let me preach you without preaching, not by words only but also by my example, by catching the spirit, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you.” Amen
Day 2 Reading
Leviticus 8:1-4
Priests
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting." And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ESV
Thought
- The second half of the book begins here, after the sacrifices the requirements for
the priests who offer them. Originally the head of the family was a priest, then the first born, later the tribe of Levi and from this tribe one family (Aaron). The New Testament reveals Jesus as our High Priest who stands before God on our behalf and believers who are a kingdom of priests having access to God. There were four requirements involved in consecrating the priests, sacrifice, washing, clothing and anointing. They symbolized our need for acceptance, cleansing, justification (clothed in His righteousness) and sanctification (consecration). It is no small thing to serve the Lord.
Prayer
- Heavenly Father, thank you for all those people who over the years since these things were written, have inspired others and played their part in passing on to generation after generation the living heritage of their faith. Especially I give thanks for those who lived their faith through difficulties and hardship and persecution. I pray, Father, that I may live my days in your faith and love, through good times and bad and be a faithful minister and servant of your Son Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Day 3 Reading - Leviticus 10:10; 11:45
Clean
You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean… For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." ESV
Thought -
God is Holy so any person or thing associated with Him must be holy. The dietary,
health and hygiene rules were to teach Israel this truth. God’s people are to reflect the holiness of their God; we know that what we do with our bodies influences our hearts and minds. Our hearts affect our actions. Israel was to follow these regulations and it would result in clean and healthy lives, which in turn reflected on their God. When we say we follow Jesus, his honour is at stake every day in our lives. Let us keep following for what we do in the body demonstrates who we are.
Prayer -
Lord, I commit my failures as well as my successes into your hands, And I bring for your healing the people and the situations, the wrongs and the hurts of the past. Give me courage, strength and generosity to let go and move on, leaving the past behind me, and living the present to the full. Lead me always to be positive as I entrust the past to your mercy, the present to your love, and the future to your providence’. St Augustine
Day 4 Reading
Lev 16:33-34
Day of Atonement
He (The High Priest) shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins." And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. ESV
Thought -
The Day of Atonement is celebrated in the Jewish community annually; it falls at the
end of September. On that day the High Priest was to make sacrifice for all the sins of the people. It is the only day when the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy Place by going beyond the curtain
which separated it from the rest of the Tabernacle. There he sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant as atonement for the sins of the nation. For Christians, Jesus is our High Priest who made atonement for our sins by going into the presence of God taking his own blood. Jesus is the perfect High Priest and the perfect sacrifice. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Prayer -
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. (Traditionally known as the “Jesus Prayer”, It is to be repeated. It was and is used by Monastic orders, a repeated prayer and a means of seeking God)
Day 5 Reading
Lev 23:39-40
Rejoice
"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. ESV
Thought -
Into Israel’s calendar God placed times for great festivals, they were times of fun and
laughter, singing, dancing and vacation. They reflected the seasons, times to remember God’s deliverances, review their lives and celebrate God’s constant provision. They were not rituals to be celebrated formally; their purpose was spiritual, “a great and glorious meeting of God and His people.” In the New Testament these feasts find a fulfillment in Christ, He is our Passover lamb, the first fruits of those raised from the dead, Pentecost the harvest of the gospel, Tabernacles, the final harvest for the end of the world.
Prayer
- Lord your word declares, “Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who
walk, O Lord, in the light of your face.” Put a smile on my face and I hope on yours, today. Make me able to celebrate as well as be serious. To rejoice and be glad, seeing good things and a good God for Lord there is plenty to make my spirit sour. Thank you for Offerings and Feastings, let me know the time for both but especially the festal shout today. AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Day 6 Reading Leviticus 26:3-13
God’s promise
"If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, I will send the rains in their seasons, the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. You will thresh until the grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting time; you'll have more than enough to eat and will live safe and secure in your land. "I'll make the country a place of peace — you'll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I'll get rid of the wild beasts; I'll eliminate war. You'll chase out your enemies and defeat them: Five of you will
chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and do away with them. I'll give you my full attention: I'll make sure you prosper, make sure you grow in numbers, and keep my covenant with you in good working order. You'll still be eating from last year's harvest when you have to clean out the barns to make room for the new crops. "I'll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won't avoid or shun you; I'll stroll through your streets. I'll be your God; you'll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.
Thought -
The blessings of obedience are set in contrast to the judgments on disobedience, the
call is to choose life, to seek first His kingdom and all the other will follow. Read these promises for an extra minute, they are awesome.
Prayer
- Lord forgive me for seeing myself and those I care for, in the hands of the Devil or a reluctant God rather than in the hands of the faithful shepherd of Israel. In my mind I have imagined all the evil I see and hear on the news, or find around and in me are ultimately more powerful than the timeless love of God. Thank you for speaking good concerning me, I run the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Thank you. DAY 7
Reading
Lev 27:16; Lev 27:25
Dedication
If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel. ESV (Gerah - The smallest of the Israelite weights. The Bible defines it as one-twentieth of a shekel)
Thought -
How does God measure our devotion? This chapter deals with free will giving,
nothing is prescribed by law here. A formal value is placed on all consecrated items particularly if there comes a time when the person may wish to redeem it. The chosen measure was the shekel of the sanctuary (Gold coinage of the temple), its weight was prescribed by God and even the generations could not alter it. It is the measurement of the heart which God weighs, according to His valuation and no one else’s. As we give to Him a gift or even give ourselves He loves the expressions of our devotion and receives them with respect to cost and love. Love in the New Testament is a feeling and a fact, a sense and a sacrifice, an emotion and an energy. God so loved the world that He gave….
Prayer -
“Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold: take my intellect and use every power as thou shall choose. Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.” Francis Ridley Havergal