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Gift: Fear of the Lord (Wonder and Awe) – With the gift of wonder and awe (fear of the lord), we are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all we desire: perfect knowledge, perfect goodness, perfect power, and perfect love.
Reading: When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,* and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:13-15)
Observation: As I begin to read the gospel reading this morning, it was like a bolt of lightning went through my head saying, God is revealing the truth to you about sin right here. It may not sound so clear to anyone reading this, but I heard God saying in this story of Herod’s fear of the Messiah, a call to remember to go where God sends us, so that we can be free of sin. If it is true that I want to be free of sin in my life, or at least serious sin that would require confession on a regular basis, like once a week, than I must be willing to take my trips to Egypt when God calls me to go there. God could have stopped Herod, but he didn’t because he was revealing truth about evil. It will find you, unless you go where God sends you.
Personification: Faithfulness I am hearing today a call to be willing to go even deeper in my faith life, to listen more intently to the call of the Lord on a more regular basis. If I am going to be the soldier for Christ that God wants me to be, than I have to be willing to take those trips to Egypt, if only in my mind, to keep away from temptation.
Prayer: Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, I humbly pray; and do you O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit. Amen.
The Divine Life 
chapter of the Gospel of the Nazirenes (see Gospel ), Jesus is asked: “Master, if a man die, shall he live again?” While every Christian will agree with the reply of Jesus in the words: “I am the resurrection and the life, I am the good, the beautiful, the true; if a man believe in me he shall not die, but live eternally,” where modern believers depart from the original teachings of TheWay is seen in the biblical interpretation of what it means to believe in the Lord, and what is required in order to live eternally. Of those who believe, Jesus said: “As in Adam all die, so in the Christ shall all be made alive. Blessed are the dead who die in me, and are made perfect in my image and likeness, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them. They have overcome evil, and are made pillars in the temple of my God, and they go out no more, for they rest in the eternal.” While modern Christians will readily accept the idea that they will be made perfect in the image and likeness of Christ, the problem is seen in the words that they will “…go out no more”.
It’s wonderful to have escaped from the clutches of the traditions of our more recent parents and culture. I would have, that I should have, been more worthy of greater light, earlier. Yet, I know that Yahweh’s wisdom for me is above my understanding. I rest with faith in his purpose for my life. I feel that I haven’t been a very good steward of my time among the mortals. I try not to pass judgment. We are understood, even known by name, HalleluYah. We are known and there has been a judgment passed and an execution of that judgment. We function under this judgment and achieve what we will. Yahweh is fair, not a respecter of persons. Then, why is ther such diverse and large differences between each of our circumstances? Herein, lays a mystery for many of us. Yahweh does not need to discover where we should be placed, how we will behave, or if we can be trusted in exercising the work of expanding the Universe. We are of such importance to him that he affords us this experience between mortal life and the resurrection. All of this is allowed so we would have no doubt in regards to Yahushua’s (J-sus’) judgment of us. It would appear to me that we, mankind or spirits, Yahweh’s children, needed to be taught by being humbled, weaken and put in a position or sphere of existence which would bring home our total dependance on Yahweh and the need for a oneness of unity through obedience. Establish our willingness, yes our determination to be obedient in safe guarding the order of the universe. After all, we are his spirit children. Do we not all have the same Father, the Father of all spirits? So, it is written.
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