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Devotions
By Leona
Karni
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1.
My Thoughts from Afar
2.
Significance of the Blood
3. Psalm 139
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My Thoughts from Afar
Psalm 139: 1-7
O Lord thou hast searched me, and known me…thou understands
my thoughts from afar…there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo,
O Lord, thou knowest it altogether…Wither shall I go from thy
spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Have you ever wondered how it is possible for the Lord to be in tune
with each and every human being on the face of the earth, to the degree
the Bible states He is? There are today (2006) approximately 6.5 billion
people in the world. How is it possible for God to be in tune with
everyone at every moment?
John Dawson, in his teaching on The Father Heart of God,
explained that it was possible for God to be thinking focused thoughts
on each individual in the world through understanding the structure of
something so simple as quartz. The molecular structure of quartz
vibrates 9 billion times per second. That means the creator of quartz is
able to think at least 9 billion times per second. If we divide the
world population into 9 billion we arrive at 1.4, let’s round it off to
one. This means that God is able to think, at the very least, a totally
focused thought for each person in existence, every second of the day!
There are 60 seconds in a minute (60 focused thoughts) and 60 minutes
in an hour (3,600), 24 hours in a day (86,400). That means, that every
day it is possible for the Lord to be totally focused on you at least
86,400 times! Take the next minute and count off the seconds. One-one
thousandth (one thought) two-one thousandth (two thoughts) and so on,
for as long as is necessary for the reality of this to penetrate through
your being.
There is not a second in the day when you are not in the Lord’s
thoughts and when He is not aware of your thoughts. There is not
anything about you that is, or can be, hidden from God. He knows you to
the depths of your being. He knows you better than you know yourself! In
fact, the closer you draw to Him the more you will know and understand
who you are. And although He knows you completely, He loves and accepts
you and longs to have greater intimacy with you!
Is there something you feel you can’t talk to the Lord about? Don’t
struggle to try to put it into words—He knows your thoughts…surrender
them to Him.
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Significance of the Blood
Have you ever wondered why in Christianity there was so much emphasis
on blood? I have, and my curiosity led me into a study of blood and the
significance of Christ’s blood. Before beginning this study, I believed
that because of sin I needed to be cleansed, and that the death of
Christ had made that possible, but I didn’t understand it
intellectually. I am now comfortable with the understanding the
following study has afforded me. But, I do not believe in this life, one
can ever fully comprehend the significance of our Lord’s blood
sacrifice.
And the Lord commanded the man
saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of
it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die
[Genesis 2:16-17].
If death was the price to be paid for rebellion, then the cost of
that rebellion was life.
For the life of the flesh is in the
blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an
atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an
atonement for the soul [Leviticus 17: 11].
The fact that the life of all living flesh is in the blood is
repeated through to the end of the chapter.
The cost of rebellion (sin) is therefore blood (life). A living
sacrifice!
It is interesting to me that the Bible gives us this insight into
human anatomy long before modern science determined that blood was our
life source. Today we know that; blood is pumped through the heart
carrying oxygen to the organs throughout the body. We know that the
white cells fight off infection and the red cells give us energy. But at
the time the Bible was written man had only God’s word!
In the garden, God killed an innocent animal and provided skins as a
covering for Adam and Eve. The sacrificial system, which enabled man to
gain access to the living God, was inaugurated. In Levitical law the
instruction regarding sacrifice is detailed, and in those instructions,
there is the requirement that the animal sacrificed be without
blemish. This sacrificial system not only provided man with the
covering needed to commune with God, but also served as a prophetic
example of the ultimate sacrifice; Jesus Christ.
It is now definitely known that the blood, which flows in an
unborn babe’s arteries and veins, is not derived from the mother but
is produced within the body of the fetus itself only after the
introduction of the male sperm. An unfertilized ovum can never
develop blood. It is only after the male element has entered the
ovum that blood can develop…The male element has added life to the
egg, since there is no life in the egg until the male sperm unites
with it, and the life is in the blood. The Chemistry of
the Blood, M.R. DeHann, M.D. pages 31, 32.
In the gospel accounts of our Lord’s birth it is recorded that Mary
was overpowered by the Holy Spirit and miraculously conceived.
Now the birth of Jesus was on this
wise; When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost
[Matthew 1:18].
In some mysterious way, the ovum developed blood and added life to
the egg in Mary’s womb. The blood flowing through the veins of Jesus
Christ was the blood of God! Pure and without blemish, suitable for
sacrifice. Thank you Jesus!!!
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Psalms 139: 17-18
How precious also are Your thoughts to
me O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them,
they would be more in number than the sand….
The first year I taught
fifth grade I was reading this scripture and mentioned to the class that
I wondered how many grains of sand there were in just one teaspoon.
Christopher Morgan Wilson, one of my students, decided to find out.
About a week later Christopher reported, that according to his count,
there were 1,723 grains of sand in one teaspoon. He had painstakingly
counted each one! I made a math project to find the number of grains of
sand in one bucket. We determined there were approximately 5,169 grains
of sand in a tablespoon, there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, therefore,
approximately 82, 704 grains of sand. There are approximately 27 cups in
an average sand bucket giving the grand total of approximately 2,233,008
grains of sand in one bucket! The following year Ryan Golgosky
challenged Christopher’s count. He counted 21,986 grains of sand in a
tablespoon. Going through the same math process Ryan determined that
there were approximately 9,497,952 grains of sand in a bucket.
Regardless of which count is closer to being accurate, there are a whole
lot of grains of sand in one bucket!
According to God’s Word (which I believe is infallible) the Lord’s
thoughts for us outnumber all the grains of sand. In Jeremiah 29:11 the
Lords states: "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." The
word expected is translated from the Hebrew word tiqvah
which has the figurative meaning of hope, or thing that I long
for. Imagine that!
The next time you are standing on the beach, stop for a moment and
reflect on the fact that under your feet there is more sand than will
fit into one bucket. Then try to imagine the innumerable grains of sand
on the bottom of the seas, and on other beaches throughout the world.
Then ask the Lord to flood your being with the thoughts He is having
toward you at that moment.
"How precious also are Your thoughts to
me O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them,
they would be more in number than the sand…"
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