"Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25
As my battle with covid finally came to an end this week, I have never appreciated the prayers of my fellow believers as I did in the midst of this battle. I knew I desperately needed true intercessors to come by my side in the spirit realm as it became very clear to me it wasn’t just a physical battle, but very much a spiritual battle as well. I kept trying to remember where the scripture was that said Jesus is always interceding for us. Of course I found it in Hebrews 7:25 when I was able to look it up.
I saw the faithfulness of my Father as He sent His own to be His hands and feet in my life as I lay quite helpless for quite some time. I have never needed the body of Christ more than at this time in my life. Frankly this was a very different kind of sickness than I had ever encountered. You are very aware it is not a normal bacteria or virus, but it is man made, and there is nothing rational about it. I saw the power of prayer as people truly prayed corporately for me as I finally let my request be made known. The Lord wanted me to see He made me a part of a family, and I was not alone.
I tend to be one of His sheep that stays right next to my True Shepherd never really looking to other believers, because I never feel safe there. I love clinging safely to My Father, but He has shown me through this time of affliction how He made us to be a part of His body, the living church. I suppose for many you may have a difficult time understanding how I could not know that. We have all treaded different paths in life and they have affected us in different ways. Betrayal and rejection from those who you completely trusted in and their commitment to Christ leave very deep scars and causes us to protect ourselves at all cost from the pain and devastation we are left in ever happening again. For me, I pressed into my Lord and Savior and allowed Him to heal me as only His love can. What I never realized is how I had walled myself safely in with my Father, never allowing myself to need the body of Christ. I saw for the first time that I love the body and minister to my fellow believers the best I can, but I only allow my Father to meet my needs, because I learned my lesson well. It is the only safe place. What the Lord has revealed in the most gentle way is He is grieved that I cannot receive from the body of Christ what He intended. He brought to mind how I feel about my own children loving one another and being there for each other. That means everything to my mother’s heart as I have happily observed my adult children caring for one another.
This is a much more transparent devotional than I wanted to write, but I believe my honesty and transparency might help someone else who understands only too well what I am speaking of. Jesus is our high priest. Hebrews 7:19 – 21 reads:
For on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness for the Law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as it was not without an oath for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, You are a priest forever; so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant."
Our hope is found in the Priest described in Hebrews 7:26-28:
"For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, who doesn’t need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the Word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever."
Hallelujah! What beautiful Words of Life for all of us! We are all level at the cross. We are all sinners saved by mercy and grace. We must learn we are all in need of the perfect High Priest we have in Jesus Christ alone. We have all wounded one another and been wounded by others. But God the Father has provided our High Priest of Perfection forever in His Holy Son, Jesus. None of His children earned anything we have received from God the Father. It was a free gift of grace and mercy. We are all leveled at the cross. There is none below or above. We must learn to live this truth out as we interact within the living body of the church of Jesus Christ. As long as we are living inside our earthly bodies we will fail one another at times. It is inevitable, no matter how hard we try. God help us to grant to one another the forgiveness we receive daily from our High Priest who lives to make intercession for us. May God grant us the ability to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. If we keep our eyes on the Head of the body, rather than the body itself we will not despair, for our hope is always in Jesus Christ and Him alone as our High Priest forever in perfection. What a glorious truth I pray becomes a deep reality in each of our lives as we try to live as the ambassadors for Christ we have all been called to represent to a lost and dying world.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
See-Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Meet one of my new neighbors I discovered running my route from home this week! Isn’t he beautiful?
