Preparing Your Heart For Easter Part 3

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As we make our way through the Tabernacle, my prayer is that we continue to be drawn to worship as we behold the glory of our Savior Jesus in new ways during this Easter season. Pray before you begin, asking the Lord to open your eyes and enlighten your thoughts and mind to the presence of Jesus today.

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Explore …

Read Exodus 25:23-30 below.

“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.”

The Table of Shewbread (Table of the Presence or Bread of the Presence) was in the Holy Place. As the priest walked in to the Holy Place he would find the Bread of the Presence to the right. There were 12 loaves of unleavened bread on the table and each loaf represented one of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Priest would stand and eat the bread every Sabbath Day and then replace the 12 loaves. The loaves were arranged in two stacks of six loaves each.

Read Leviticus 24:5-9 and Hebrews 10:11-14.

The Bread of the Presence not only represented the 12 tribes, but it also served as a symbol of Jesus, Himself, who said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

Jesus sustains and satisfies every believer. He is the Shewbread for believers to feed on in order to grow. If we want to grow spiritually, we must feed on Christ. You’ve heard the saying, “You are what you eat?” The more we take in Christ, feed on Him and nurture our souls with His Word and His presence, the more we become like Him.

How do we nurture our souls with His presence? We commune with Him spiritually. Jesus made it very clear that He wanted to fellowship with us. He came to earth and lived among us. The holy God of the Universe, incarnate, sat down and ate meals with people which showed His desire to be in fellowship with them. When we take in Christ (trust Him and believe in Him for our salvation) we are guaranteed continual fellowship with Him both now and in eternity.

Read John 6:51-58 below.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Our communion with Jesus becomes more and more satisfying as we partake of His Word daily. As we are nourished by His Word, we gain a deeper intimacy with Him, and we begin to take on His nature. We do this not merely by reading and comprehending the Word of God, but by letting it sink into the deepest recesses of our souls, by letting it saturate our being and by allowing it to lead us to worship Him in the glorious splendor of His presence.

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it. – Brother Lawrence

Shewbread literally means, “bread of the face.” What a delight it is to turn our faces to Jesus and take Him in.

Experience … Jesus’ presence as you pray and thank Him for the communion you share with Him. Thank Him for His Word, and it’s power to transform, strengthen, sustain, and renew. Thank Jesus for desiring to be intimately connected with those who believe in Him for all eternity.

Exclaim … and proclaim your love for Jesus and His presence in your life. Commune with God today and ask Him to take you to a deeper level of intimacy with Him during this Easter season if you truly desire for Him to do so.

Reflect and meditate on this verse today …

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:10-11

Do you know Christ?

Are you in intimate fellowship with Him?

Do you feel His presence in your daily life?

Pray this prayer to the Lord with all you heart …

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. – A.W. Tozer

Blessings,

Jacqueline Heider

Director of Women’s Ministry, Prayer, and Resource Specialist

This devotion was written in 2014 by Jacqueline Heider and was first published on her blog at jacquelineheider.com.

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