"Don't Give Up on God" -2

"Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." (Psalms 74: 20) I almost took a break today from doing this; but I felt God wanted me to share something, in spite of the recent loss of my son. I know he is in a much better place, and I am looking forward to the day we shall meet again. But it hurts just the same, because there were so many things I regret not doing with him that I should have done. I guess that's what happens when you loose someone you might have neglected, you think about all the things you could have done, or all the experiences you could have had. Let me tell you what "the covenant" means to me, and then you can laugh or cry, or do what ever it is that God leads you into. Jesus came to reconcile us back to the Father, meaning that we would have total access to God on our own. What that means, in terms that make sense, is that we do not need a go-between to access the throne of God, we just need to go directly to Him and enter into worship or prayer, or just sit at His feet and chill out. The old covenant was more about bringing sacrifice and having the priest get some waiver for your sin. The new covenant is about being washed of your sins so you can approach God with clean hands and a pure heart; something that we could never have done without the blood of Jesus making us righteous and holy. That is not something we should take for granted, because it is an awesome privilege that comes with being a child of God. As His children, our Heavenly Father expects us to cry out to Him, to come to Him when we are sad, happy, excited, or just wanting to say hello; He longs for us to have fellowship with Him, that is the reason He sent His Son to die on that cross for our sins, so that we might be able to have fellowship with Him. Besides, where else are you going to go for peace, joy, and love; peace that surpasses and out does all fear and catastrophe; joy that make any darkness disappear and the Son shine brightly; and love that is so far beyond our description that we can never reach it's end. God is good, even in the bad...
"Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which remains forever! Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can only be removed by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord -who is Spirit -makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:8-18) NLT