You are lovingly invited.

“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him that
 heareth say, ‘come.’ And let him that is athrist come.
 And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”
 (Revelation 22:17).

RSVP



As the Thanksgiving holiday draws near, we begin to think
about the menu and start making preparations to have our
 family and friends with us during this reflective time of being
thankful. It can be a time of renewing relationships that have
been neglected or maybe stressful in the past. It is also a
good time to check our pantry to see if we have sufficient
provisions for a spiritual Thanksgiving.



The Jews have always been a celebrating people. God
established holidays to remind them of His Covenant blessings
as they kept the feast days. All the appointed days of
festivities pointed to the Covenant He established with them
and were for the purpose of passing the traditional
“remembrance days” to generation after generation. The
Covenant blessings which they celebrated were fulfilled
by Jesus and include us--so let’s celebrate!



Let us have a “remembrance festival” this Thanksgiving with
elements taken from the Word which will bring to our minds what
God has prepared for His family through His Son, Jesus Christ.



Our personal preparation begins with bath time. “Having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh [actions] and spirit
 [will and emotions] perfecting holiness [maturity] in the fear
 of God” (2 Corinthians 17:1).

“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3).



Now that we are clean, we look into our closet and choose
what to wear. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall
be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).



I am properly attired because I had a good light to select a
coordinated outfit. “For thou wilt light my candle [understanding];
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness” (Psalm 18:28).
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path”
(Psalm 119:105).

I can find my way to the feast. God has given me His address
and a map to find his house. He has given me light to
 understand the route He marked on His map (His Word).



Here it is, the house of celebration. I found it with no trouble
 because I followed the instructions I had been given and the light confirmed the location. Come with me and let us join the others
who have gathered. “Greet one another with an holy kiss”
(2 Corinthians 13:12). “Greet ye one another with a kiss
 of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus”
(1 Peter 5:14).



The table is spread and a blessing is pronounced as we join
the celebrants. “Bless [thank] the Lord, O my soul; and all that
is within me, bless [exalt] his holy name” (Psalm 103:5). “Who
satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth [first love,
when I met Christ] is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5)--
As the eagle waits upon the Lord…and mounts up with wings
 locked to soar above the storm.



With great anticipation, we look upon the feast that has been
prepared for us. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow
[renewed cells] and fatness [increase]; and my mouth shall
praise thee with joyful lips” (Psalm 63:5).

Take a quick survey of the spread on the table.
What an awesome feast!

Meat: “…My [Jesus] meat is to do the will of him that sent me
and to finish his work” (John 4:14). If Jesus’ meat was the
 will of the Father, then it must be ours as well.

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth [putrid works of the
 flesh], but for that meat [will of the Father] which endureth
 into everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you…
” (John 6:27).

A look around the table reveals many “veterans” of the warfare,
and there is a special meat prepared for them. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age [mature], even those who by
 reason of [persistent] use have their senses exercised
[progressive growth] to discern both good and evil”
(Hebrews 5:14).

Bread: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life
 [sustains it]; he that cometh to me shall never hunger
[always have a fresh supply]…”(John 6:35).

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man
 eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give
 is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

“For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread [Jesus]” (1 Corinthians 10:17).

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone [for natural life], but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God [for spiritual life]” (Matthew 4:4).

Special Drink: “In the last day, that great day of the feast
 [natural], Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst,
let him come unto me, and drink’ [spiritual]” (John 7:37).

Water: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers [endless supply] of living water.
(But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on
him should receive)…” (John 7:38-39).

“How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God; therefore the
children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
 They shall be abundantly [more than enough] satisfied with
the fatness [increase] of thy house; and thou shalt make them
drink of this river of thy wings” (Psalm 36:7-8).

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10: 4 that the Rock Israel drank
 from was Christ, the same Rock fountain that we drink from.

To those who are slow coming to the table, let us say; “…let him
that is athrist come…and…let him take the water of life freely [unconditionally]” (Revelation 22:17).

Water is essential to life, all life. Everything that grows needs
 water. It even makes us ladies have more supple skin. If we
become dehydrated, our skin suffers. To deprive ourselves of
the Water of Life is to put our spiritual life in jeopardy. It will
affect our appearance as well as our actions. The Water of
Life will extinguish the fires of lust and greed which would lure
 us back into the dry dessert of sin and destruction.

Milk: We have cradles and strollers with “babes” in Christ
 present, but they are not forgotten or neglected. “As newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). We all began as “babes” and were fed
 milk until we grew strong enough to have a full diet including
 meat. It is not wise to give babies meat lest we choke them
before they have a chance to reach meat-eating age. Milk
(of the Word) will give the babies strength, making strong
 bones with which to stand against the storms of life
 and the wiles of the devil.

Fruit: What a lovely bowl of luscious fruit—“Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23), “righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).
When we eat this fruit, we become artistic. “A word fitly spoken [suitable for the occasion] is like apples of gold in pictures
 of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). With our palette of colors,
we paint a beautiful picture for each other.

The bees have been busy and produced honey: “How sweet ar
e thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
 “The fear of the Lord…the judgments of the Lord...are
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 119:9).

His Word sweetens ours so that we can speak as He speaks,
in love and compassion, painting beautiful word pictures.
A honeybee works his whole lifetime to produce only about a
 teaspoon of honey, so it is “precious.” How precious is God’s
 Word! What a price was paid for us to have it! We must not
overlook this delicacy but take it and treat it with the
respect and love it deserves.

Seasoning “Ye are the salt of the earth…” (Matthew 5:13).
 “Salt is good [for seasoning}…” (Mark 9:50). When we
 are seasoned with the love of Christ, our words and actions
will be translated as honey to those who receive them. We
are the salt of the earth to make the world thirsty for Christ.

Salt not only seasons and makes food palatable, it also
preserves. The Holy Spirit is our salt that keeps us from
 spoiling and becoming unfit for use. We can’t become “light”
 until we have become “salt.” As salt we have humility
and perseverance, and that allows us to be luminaries in
the darkness of the world.

Among the utensils on the table, there is an instrument to cut
the meat, bread, etc. “For the word of God is quick [alive],
 and powerful [all-powerful], and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit,
 and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

The Word not only feeds us with milk, bread, meat, fruit and
water, honey and seasoning and contains all the nutrients we
need to grow to spiritual maturity, it keeps and guards us as
well. As long as we walk in the light of the Word, we can’t
hide from ourselves as it discerns our thoughts and intentions.
The discernment of our thoughts and intents is preventive
 of wrong actions.

The Word prepares us to be set before the world, spread with
 all the lovelies we have observed at this feast so they will
joyfully accept the invitation to the feast and become
a member of the family.



“Thou preparest a table before me…” (Psalm 23:5).

The invitation is still valid. Won’t you come?

Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.
October 6, 2004

Alice's Legacy

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Prayer Handkerchief

The "Handkerchief" has been anointed and prayed over by several believers who care about you and want to help you realize your full potential in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

~The Ten Commandments~