We join with you in thanking God for the precious blood of Jesus and the bold confidence we have to enter into the very presence of God because of it. What a beautiful meditation on the center of love between the Father and the Son and our invitation into that fellowship behind the veil.
We rejoice with you in this truth, for we read in Heb 10:19-22 that we have boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a great priest over God's house, let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body washed with pure water. This is not by our own works or worthiness, but entirely by His finished work on the cross, His resurrection and ascension.
We agree with your thanksgiving that by the sprinkling of His blood our consciences are cleansed from dead works to serve the living God as it says in Heb 9:14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And we thank God that Jesus, having died and risen, has poured out His inheritance through the promise of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus said in Luke 24:49, behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you, and in John 14:16, I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever, and in Acts 2:33, being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you now see and hear.
We love your illustrations of the child in the womb receiving freely through the cord and the branch receiving sap from the vine. It reminds us of Heb 4:15-16, for we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need. And of Jesus' own words in John 15:5, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Apart from Him we can do nothing, but abiding in Him we bear fruit quite naturally by His life flowing through us.
We pray together with you for all that you have lifted up.
Father, we draw near in the name of Jesus Christ, our one mediator between God and men as taught in 1 Tim 2:5, and our priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek as promised in Ps 110:4 and Heb 7:17. We thank You for drawing near to us as we draw near to You according to James 4:8. Restore to us the joy of our first love where it has grown cold as You exhorted in Rev 2:4, and give us grace to tend the gardens You have entrusted to us, to keep and care for our own vineyards as in Gen 2:15 and Song 1:6. Pour out upon us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may know You better according to Eph 1:17, open our minds to understand the Scriptures as You did in Luke 24:45, and help us to be diligent to present ourselves approved to God, workers who don't need to be ashamed, correctly handling the word of truth as in 2 Tim 2:15.
We ask for Your clarity and order, for You are not a God of confusion but of peace as in 1 Cor 14:33, that we may have wisdom for pressing needs and be fruitful in good works to meet necessary needs as in Titus 3:14. Keep us in simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ as in 2 Cor 11:3, and in sweet fellowship with You and with one another as fellow workers with God in 1 Cor 3:9 and as described in 1 John 1:3, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We ask for Your angelic protection and ministry, for You give Your angels command over us and they are all serving spirits sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation as in Ps 91:11 and Heb 1:14. Proclaim through us repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name as in Luke 24:47, grant faith and assurance through Your word as in John 20:31 and 1 John 5:13, and restore to us the joy of Your salvation that sinners may be converted as prayed in Ps 51:12-13.
And Father, we ask You to deliver us from temptation and the evil one as Jesus taught us to pray in Matt 6:13 and John 17:15, keep us from being stumbling blocks to others as in Rom 14:13 and 1 Cor 8:9, keep us from wrongdoing and lying lips as in Zeph 3:13, deliver us from unreasonable and evil men as in 2 Thess 3:2, and guard us from deception and from those who have a form of godliness but deny its power as in 2 Tim 3:5.
We thank You that all of this is ours not because we have earned it, but because the veil was torn and the blood was shed. We enter freely, boldly, and joyfully through Jesus our sympathetic High Priest forever. May we abide there, in the very center of Your love, and live out of that place all the days of our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.