Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. EZ 18:31
EZEKIEL 37:21-28 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
There is no peace apart from You. God promised peace over and over again through the patriarchs and prophets and for a while under David's reign the people of God enjoyed a time of peace. But real, and lasting peace is ours only in and through You, the Prince of Peace and the Savior of the world.
You alone are able to gather the scattered sheep and shepherd us to green pasture, to running streams, to rest. In You alone is perfect peace even in the midst of turbulence, in the midst of the storm, in the midst of turmoil. You are our calm, our rest, our refreshment.
You alone have the power to wash away the filth and grime of our sins no matter how deeply encrusted they are in our souls. All it takes is a word of sorrow, regret, contrition in humility and You wash away our iniquity and cleanse us of every sin no matter how grave or ugly.
We long for the day when You will gather all Your sheep from all the corners of the world and You will be our God and we will be Your people. We will be one flock under one Shepherd. The divisions in the world are frightful and it seems impossible that they can be healed or overcome but You are a God of the impossible and Your Word is true. We believe, Lord. We believe.
I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever.’
JEREMIAH 31:10-13 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
You are the living, eternal Word of the Father, a Word once uttered and sent into the world to accomplish all the He wills. It will not return to Him without fulfilling all that the Father desires. As You have commanded the Word has been preached to all the nations in the farthest corners of the world. Many have heard and have come to believe in the Word that saves.
We were under the yoke of Satan but You foiled the works of the Enemy. You paid the ransom for our sins. You lay down Your life in exchange for ours and received the punishment that was due to us. Raised between heaven and earth, You are the bridge that unites us with the Father. All God's blessings flow to us through You.
We are far from realizing the perfect joy and peace that You came to give. Evil is rampant in the world and oftentimes it seems that it has won. But that is a lie. You have triumphed. Yours is the victory, You have prevailed, You have turned our mourning to joy, and all our grief to gladness. You are God.
JOHN 11:45-56 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
After You raised Lazarus from the dead many believed but not Your enemies. Only God has power over life and death and it the Pharisees and the chief priests were lovers of the truth they would have believed and praised God for fulfilling His promise and sending the Messiah to save His people.
Evil prevails when worldly powers plot and scheme to silence the truth no matter the cost in human suffering. The wicked are so consumed with hate it eats into their entrails and robs them of peace and sanity. The Pharisees and the chief priests were obsessed with putting You to death and as is always the case, they actually began to believe their own lies. Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He thought that they could prevent the destruction of their nation by murdering You. They believed that they could protect their self-interest by putting an end to Your rising popularity with the people as they envisioned being robbed of their powers by the Roman authorities and the Temple being destroyed if they did not stop You. They would soon realize that their murderous actions would bring about all that they feared and far greater calamity than they could ever imagine.
The hour was drawing near and soon You would fulfill the mission for which You were sent and when it came You would be ready.
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