katie rose writes

"Therefore, because we have a who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to be sympathetic to our needs, but on who has been tempted in every way just as we have--yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, with the result that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in our need." (4:14-16) This is the beginning of a new section for the writer. It is definitely closely related to the REST that has been defined and is our goal as believers, but in order to enter that rest we need a high priest. And not just any priest. This letter is written to Hebrew, Jewish Christians, who were sorely tempted to return to Judaism. They might have lost everything upon their conversion; similarly, they may have been promised everything back if they would just renounce this confession of Jesus as their Messiah. But the point of this letter is not to ...

Oxymoronic, much? Yes. When you lay down to go to sleep, do you ever lay there and literally toss & turn to try and will yourself to sleep? Ok, maybe that's just me, but as this happened last night, I realized how much I was trying to will myself to sleep instead of let God give me rest. I was resisting Him in that small way, rather than accepting the rest He was trying to give me. Because of that resisting, it took me hours to fall asleep. The Spirit kept me praying, but I wasn't relaxing. It was really strange. But when I finally did relax, still my mind, I fell asleep and thanks to the Lord and the prayers of others, I woke up so very rested. I truly felt renewed by the night's rest. What's more, I only needed one cup of coffee to further stimulate my mind as I prepared for day by having Jesus time. If you know me, you know that's pretty incredible. God is good.  Why did I go on that rant then? Because I've been reading a lot about this thing called r...