Now the GOD of Peace that brought again from the dead Our LORD JESUS, that Great SHEPHERD+ of the sheep,
through the Blood of the Ever-lasting Covenant
make you perfect in every good work to do HIS Will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His Sight,
through JESUS CHRIST;
to Whom+ be glory for ever and ever.
Hebrews 13:20-21
+ + +
through the Blood of the Ever-lasting Covenant
make you perfect in every good work to do HIS Will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His Sight,
through JESUS CHRIST;
to Whom+ be glory for ever and ever.
Hebrews 13:20-21
+ + +
Our LORD JESUS CHRIST came to
prepare a People for Possession, a People HE+ could call His+ own, a People HE+
was not ashamed to call
"Brethren."
How does HE+ prepare such a
people?
HE+ does it this way:
HE+ calls us
to walk the same path HE+ walked.
Hebrews 2:9-11
But we
see JESUS, WHO+ was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
death, crowned with glory and honor; that HE+ by the grace of GOD should
taste death for every man.
For it became HIM, for
Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Captain+ of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
For both HE+ that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause HE+
is not ashamed to call them brethren
This peculiar people, this holy nation, becomes a perfected
people worthy of being possesed by CHRIST when they go through suffering ...
that suffering which is ordained by GOD... just as it was ordained for Our
LORD'S perfection.
His+ body and His+ mind and His+
spirit endured a tremendous onslaught of temptation for 40 days in the
wilderness, in direct combat with the satan and His+ own flesh.
HE+ became perfected every time
HE+ chose His+ FATHER'S will over the lures of the satan.
We do too.
Let us pray:
O Perfect, Tried, and Tested LORD
JESUS CHRIST,
I thank THEE+, O CHRIST, for
coming in the flesh, for coming a little lower than the angels, for coming to
suffer death for me.
I thank THEE+ for enduring the
painful path of perfection, when THOU+ was Incarnate.
O, HOLY ONE+, I need to be
perfected. Help me, in my weakness, to choose perfection.
How could it be that THOU+, O
CHRIST, needed to be tested ... except that THOU+ had to taste all temptation
for every man and beat the satan in it ?
Help me to remember, O LORD, that
THOU+ walked through the valley of
temptation for every man with great Victory.
So now, by reason of Thy+ Victory,
I renounce my own flesh and my pride and my family spirits that lead me astray
and I do this in Thy+ Name, O LORD JESUS CHRIST.
I repent of even listening to the
lies and lures of the satan, telling me to choose the way of my flesh, my
pride, my family, and the ever-present world,
to make me happy.
Deliver my ears from this death
trap, O LORD. Deliver my heart from wanting the easy way.
In my strength and in my weakness,
I choose Thy+ Will, O CHRIST, which is the perfect Will of GOD our FATHER.
Perfect me --- no matter what path
that takes --- that THOU+ will not be
ashamed to call me Thy+ "brother" ...
Thy+ brother in suffering, Thy+
brother in perfection.
In Thy+ Blessed and Holy Name,
CHRIST JESUS our LORD, receive the meditation of my heart, I pray.
Amen.
