Alluring God,
Thank you for calling us to a place of rest when we are in Christ. Thank you that while we have to “work out” our salvation, we don’t have to “work for” our salvation, because the grace of Christ has already provided for that. Thank you that your Word is alive, active, sharper than a two-sided sword, and penetrating to a person’s inmost being. Thank you that your Word judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, leaving us to not judge others but trust in you for judgement. Thank you that because Jesus is our great high priest, we can hold firmly to the faith we profess and approach your throne of grace with confidence.
Thank you for alluring us when we go astray. You are the one who makes places of disappointment in our lives into places of new opportunity and hope for a new future. So, help us to confess, receive forgiveness, and move forward from the past and its regrets and bitterness. Help us to allow you to prune us so we are a sweet, not bitter, offering to you. We receive mercy and find grace to assist us in our time of need. Help us to throw off everything that hinders us – especially the sin that so easily entangles us – so that we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We know that running the race of life means you will discipline us for our good, in order that we may share in your holiness and produce a harvest of righteousness and peace. Help us to make every effort to be at peace with everyone and allow you to do that disciplining, so that we can be holy and see God. Do not let us fail to lay hold of the grace of God. Do not let bitter roots of pride, animosity, rivalry, or anything else harmful to others grow up and cause trouble within and around us.
Unlock the doors of hope in our lives. Give us mercy as you renew your covenant with us. May we be connected – betrothed – to you forever in righteousness, justice, love, compassion, and faithfulness as we acknowledge you as Lord. Plant us in the land of covenant blessing you have for us. Flow through us the new wine and oil of your Spirit as our lives come into agreement more fully with the Abundant Life you have for us. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, may we be thankful and so worship you acceptably with reverence and awe, for you, our God, are a consuming fire. With the empowerment of Holy Spirit and in the fiery name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray, Amen!
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV)
A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
4
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.[a] 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Jesus the Great High Priest
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4: NIV)
12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
God Disciplines His Children
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Warning and Encouragement
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12 NIV)
“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond[b] as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16
“In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17
I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18
In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20
I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21
“In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22
and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[g]
23
I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:14-23 NIV)
Idea from: https://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=25704
Some notes from: NIV Study Bible (c) Zondervan, 2011