Day 19, Paragraph 19 of Weekday Blog #1

*Starting our morning and day off great with the 10-minute Weekday Blog*

Our first DAILY blog for each Weekday in JUNE!

Thank you for joining us for this
ground-breaking JOURNEY...
through the 1st CHAPTER of Keith's book,
“Keep the FAITH…Keep Your VISION”!

If you will read this book in its entirety, then you will be equipped to begin walking with the confidence and authority that Jesus Christ came and died to provide for us, in order that we may work *with* Him, be *fulfilled* in our work, lead a *successful life*, and...
      

Day NINETEEN,
Paragraph NINETEEN:

    
In the Book of Isaiah, we find a wondrous declaration from the Lord. Concerning His people, He said, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." (Isaiah 49:16) Think about that. We are engraved on the palms of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Question to ponder:

How does it make you feel to know that, as a committed follower of Christ Jesus, you will forever be safe in the hands of our Savior, never to be plucked out of His hands?  _________________________________________

Keith's "Comments from the Author":

"Our Lord’s life, time of ministry, death, burial, and resurrection are so filled with intricacies. It would literally take a lifetime to examine each and realize the depth by which God went to provide a way for us to be joined to Him, and His family, for eternity. Concerning what God is saying in Isaiah 49:16, for the sake of simplicity, though what He has done for us is not ‘simple’ at all, I would like to explain to you the process of becoming a ‘blood brother’, something the early American Indians are known for doing. It involves two men who were not from the same family and bloodline. After a period of time when the two men had developed a faithful friendship, proving that they were genuinely committed to their relationship, like brothers, they would conduct a ceremony to indicate that as the case. The ultimate objective was binding them together as ‘brothers’. Though they were not brothers in the same family, they would become brothers in blood or, as we used to refer to it when we were 8 or 9 years old out in the woods somewhere, ‘blood brothers’. For us kids, this ‘ceremony’ was a relatively quick and painless process of pricking the end of one of our fingers with a pin until there was a blood drop, putting the ends of our fingers together to mix our blood, and letting all of the kids around us know that we are now bud’s forever. For the Indians, the two who were to be bound together would sharpen a knife, hold the blade on the palm of their left hand, and make a deep cut all the way across the palm. After both guys had blood flowing, they locked hands with their wounds touching, and wrapped a piece of cloth, vine, or something else around their hands. They were to keep their hands bonded together for a specific period of time, until the blood, not only, mixed together, but also (theoretically) flowed into each other’s veins. When the two men felt that their hands had been tied together long enough for the transfusion to have taken place, they untied the rope, wrapped their individual wounds, then went off on their way. Why is it they didn’t just ‘prick’ their fingers like we did as kids? Why did they make such a long, deep cut in their hands to do this? The reason was so that, no matter how much time goes by, the scar would remain. That scar was a symbol to anyone who sees it that the man had been bonded by blood to another man who, in many cases, was closer to them than a brother in their own family. Now, going back to our verse in Isaiah 49:16 where God said, ’Therefore, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hand’, much like the scars in the hands of those two men represent the deepest unity that we can experience in our physical body, by the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross, and by our accepting him as our Lord and Savior we have been grafted in to the family of God by blood, and in to the bloodline and lineage of Christ. Therefore, we are grafted into God’s family. Do you remember the Scripture passage where Jesus explains, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me’ (John 14:6)? Jesus was stating the fact that, if we are not in Him and He is not in us, we are not family. You see, just like that age-old process of becoming ‘blood brothers’ left scars confirming the lifelong bond between two men, the crucifixion left scars in the palms of Christ that confirms that His shedding His blood and giving His life provides us entrance into God’s family. Therefore, when we call on Christ Jesus, repent of our sins, and seek Him with all diligence, His blood flows in our veins, and we are grafted into God’s Family through Him. Christ Jesus is ‘The Door’."

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."  (John 10:9a)


*We look forward to joining together again tomorrow! Please make sure to invite your friends who are lost, or who just need encouragement, too! God bless and keep you!*

________________________________

This book is based on real-life matters that are crucial for each of us to address in our life. To ask questions, make a special donation, request a large quantity of books, or to share a testimony or prayer request with us, please click for e-mail, or write a letter and mail it to the address shown on our website, and as provided below.

We pray God bless you greatly as you have greatly blessed us and the entire Toward The Mark, Inc. Family!

Your friends & servants in Christ,

Take me back to the top of this post.

Take me to the post from yesterday, *DAY 18*.

Take me to the first post of week 4, *DAY 16*.

Take me to the first post of week 3, *DAY 11*.

Take me to the first post of week 2, *DAY 6*.

Take me to the beginning, *DAY 1* of this Blog.

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small… 
sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE You ... to follow and share these resources that are available as well, for helping build your faith in God, His Will, and His Ways:

~  "Keith Shealy & Wisdom Wednesday" on Facebook 

      

~  "TTM Singing Sergeant" on Twitter
~  "Sharing Messages God Whispers" on the website
~  "Between The Lines TTM Podcast" by Keith Shealy 

      

This blog message, along with the rest of our inventory of Bible-based resources, is made possible by the support of our faithful monthly partners. Would you consider helping us expand our outreach capabilities by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools, available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, for getting to know the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us as we "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is tax-deductible and helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check to the order of:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152. 

Thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the fertile soil of this ministry! We pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!