I thank God that Jesus’ death, then resurrection, made it possible for me to connect with God in His most holy of holies, sinless place. This is the most vital, critical part of my personal Christianity. It is the foundation of my life that is lived to tell others of the Gospel through my actions and words.

Hebrews 10:

¹⁹ And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. ²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, ²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. ²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

It’s Thanksgiving time. I refuse to ignore Thanksgiving and focus on Christmas. I’m so thankful to God for the provision of this year. I’m thankful for every second of my 52 years that He has kept my heart beating on this earth. I’m thankful for my family, my friends and my church! I know as creator, He spoke and breathed and made everything my eyes can see from absolutely nothing. Wow X3!!!  I’m confident and peaceful that He sustains me on this earth with His perfect provision in every sense and it’s tailor made for my life! He deserves the greatest honor and praise that I can muster up!

Yes God, from me personally~ Be exalted above the Heavens! Use me, my family, my church and my friends to let your glory shine over all the earth!

Psalm 108:

My heart is confident in you, O God;
    no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!
² Wake up, lyre and harp!
    I will wake the dawn with my song.
³ I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
    I will sing your praises among the nations.
⁴ For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens.
    Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
    May your glory shine over all the earth.

I’m very thankful God can calm thestorm. Whether it is a literal storm on the sea or more importantly a raging storm of major issues I’m going through in my personal life. God can calm it all. He created it all. I can cry out to Jesus in the scary moments of life and He will settle me down with peace that is beyond human understanding. I fully trust Him to do this. Thank you, God, even before a storm comes, you are there with me calming my life and helping solve my problems step by step!

Psalm 107:

23Some went off to sea in ships,
    plying the trade routes of the world.
²⁴ They, too, observed the Lord’s power in action,
    his impressive works on the deepest seas.
²⁵ He spoke, and the winds rose,
    stirring up the waves.
²⁶ Their ships were tossed to the heavens
    and plunged again to the depths;
    the sailors cringed in terror.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunkards
    and were at their wits’ end.
²⁸ “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
²⁹ He calmed the storm to a whisper
    and stilled the waves.
³⁰ What a blessing was that stillness
    as he brought them safely into harbor!
³¹ Let them praise the Lord for his great love
    and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
³² Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation
    and before the leaders of the nation.

I’m so thankful to God today. He redeems ANY situation I go through. He can redeem anyone. He helps the homeless find homes. He helps prisoners of all kinds to be set free from bondage. He helps rebellious fools find wise direction. He helps those who are in the midst of tumultuous storms of all kinds. He changes situations of all kinds for those who follow Him and turns deserts into places where abundant harvests can be gathered. He helps the poor small in number to flourish.

Psalm 107:

1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
    His faithful love endures forever.
² Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
    Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

Psalm 107:

10 Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom,
    imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
¹¹ They rebelled against the words of God,
    scorning the counsel of the Most High.
¹² That is why he broke them with hard labor;
    they fell, and no one was there to help them.
¹³ “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
¹⁴ He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom;
    he snapped their chains.
¹⁵ Let them praise the Lord for his great love
    and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
¹⁶ For he broke down their prison gates of bronze;
    he cut apart their bars of iron.

I’m so thankful for my New Living Translation One Year Bible.  I learn so much because it’s such an understandable version. I don’t know the details of the group of people who put it together but I know it is a Godsend to me.

This morning I read in Ezekiel that God warned His people hard times were coming because they refused to turn away from their wrongdoing. God’s heart is to infinitely love people but He also corrects those He loves. In Ezekiel, God tells His heart about dealing with wickedness.

And here’s an amazing part, when I read in Psalm 106 in today’s reading it also talked about God’s heart toward His people in the midst of great sin.

Ezekiel 18:

²⁰ The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. ²¹ But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. ²² All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.

²³ “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.²⁴ However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you? ²⁶ When righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will die because of their sinful deeds. ²⁷ And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives. ²⁸ They will live because they thought it over and decided to turn from their sins. Such people will not die. ²⁹ And yet the people of Israel keep saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are not doing what’s right, not I.

³⁰ “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! ³¹ Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? ³² I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!

Psalm 106:

In the Old Testament, God appointed individuals who were sinners like everyone else to be priests and enter the place called the holy of holies in the tabernacle where God made His presence known. The priest had to carefully get forgiveness of their sins and then carefully help God’s people get forgiveness. It was a long tedious process.

Things changed in the New Testament after Jesus lived a sinless life and took on the sin of all humanity past, present and future when He died on the cross and then Came back to life. Jesus became our high priest. Today, as Christians, we simply talk to Jesus about any and all needs we have including the forgiveness of our sin. Sin and wrongdoing separates from our sinless God. This is an exciting and peace giving truth; Jesus sits next to God at His right hand, praying for us. When we pray, Jesus takes our prayers and turns them into a perfect conversation with our Heavenly Father that will best meet our needs!…That is so awesome!

I am so thankful today, as the day begins, that Jesus is for me and my family! Wow!

Hebrews 8:

8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. ² There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,^[a]the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

³ And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. ⁴ If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. ⁵ They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”^[b]

⁶ But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷ If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. ⁸ But when God found fault with the people, he said:

¹³ When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

During this Thanksgiving time of year I want to thank God everyday for His goodness poured out on my life. I will not forget to praise Him. He deserves continuous honor forever for who He is. He is the creator of all. Everything the eye can see was created by Him in the beginning of time. He is the Lord Almighty, ruler of everything.

Psalm 106:

I’m thankful to God and excited to learn from the Bible this morning something I’ve overlooked all through the years.

All through the decades of my Christian life, I’ve heard heard the name Melchizedek. But I didn’t realize the details that link him to Jesus. Melchizedek lived when Abraham lived. He was not in the lineage of the Levi family. He was before! He was a king and a priest. His name means king of Justice and king of peace. After winning a battle, Abraham tithed and gave to this king. The book of Hebrews says several times Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And, Wow!, even David prophesied that Jesus was a priest like this man.

I give all those details to proclaim this amazing truth, even in the day of Abraham, when God was giving Abraham great and new promises, He had in mind that non-Jewish people like me could have a relationship with God!

Hebrews 7:

7 This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. ² Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” ³ There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

⁴ Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. ⁵ Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel,^[a] who are also descendants of Abraham. ⁶ But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. ⁷ And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.

⁸ The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. ⁹ In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. ¹⁰ For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

¹¹ So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?^[b]

¹² And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it.¹³ For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. ¹⁴ What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

¹⁴ What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

¹⁵ This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. ¹⁶ Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. ¹⁷ And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,

I am thankful that God has better things meant for all Christians who faithfully do what He wants us to do day by day.

We are meant for better things in life such as being greatly blessed. For example, God promised Abraham He would be blessed with descendants beyond number. He had one son in his old age named Isaac. God continues to bless Abraham with descendants today. Jesus is in the lineage of Abraham and as Christians we are joint heirs with him and we are one of many of the descendants of Abraham. God has abundantly blessed Abraham and He blesses faithful Christians today.

Hebrews 6:

⁹ Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.¹¹ Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. ¹² Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

¹³ For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

¹⁵ Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

¹⁶ Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. ¹⁷ God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. ¹⁸ So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. ¹⁹ This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

I’m thankful this day that Jesus is my high priest. He goes before God in my behalf. He represents me and covers for the sin and mistakes I makes.

Hebrews 5:

Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.² And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. ³ That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.

⁴ And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. ⁵ That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him,

⁶ And in another passage God said to him,

⁷ While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. ⁸ Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. ⁹ In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. ¹⁰ And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.