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He feels your pain!

Hebrews 4:15 is so encouraging to me. It reveals that our Lord Jesus actually understands our pain and struggles. He knows what it means to be human, so He understands our condition. Here is how this verse reads in the Amplified version: “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.” Our High Priest understands our feelings of failure, despair, hopelessness and abandonment. Because of His love for us, He provided the way out of these conditions. Not only did He do this, He also empowered us by His Spirit to walk as victorious over-comers. The sacrifice of our our High Priest defeated death, hell and the grave. It delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us to His Kingdom. By His sacrifice, we were adopted into His family. We are now Kingdom priests. Today, because of His sacrifice, we can now also sympathize with the pain of others and help them out of their struggles. Our High Priest tells us: As the Father sent me, I now send you (John 20:21). Go in His strength today, and be that blessing that our High priest commissioned you to be!

Hebrews 4:15 (Amp): “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.”

 

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A blessing or a curse is set before humanity.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 contains God’s invitation to every generation. In this invitation, He sets before us a blessing and a curse. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price of that curse for every person. Every person that receives the gift of salvation and righteousness in Christ, receives the blessing of the Lord. That blessing includes eternal life, adoption into His family, grace, favor, love, divine protection, divine provision, divine health, divine wisdom, and other gifts as part of that blessing. John 3:17 says: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved”. It is not Jesus who condemns, it is our own decisions and actions. John 3:19 confirms this: “And this is the condemnation, that the light (Jesus) has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”. When someone willfully rejects the very blessing of God that would set them free from the curse, and chases after other gods and philosophies that might sound good at the moment, they enter into deception and delusion. Sin always promises to give you fun, excitement, and freedom to do whatever you want, but in the end, it only seeks to enslave you and separate you from God and from the blessings. So, God invites you today and sets before you a blessing and a curse. Which one will you embrace?

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known”.