"The Feast of Tabernacles" - Too

  "Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand." (John 7:2 KJV)

  "And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in the courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner." Nehemiah 8:14-18 KJV)

 Okay, so you forgot how to be glad, letting the climate and changing times, weaken the joy that should be radiating from your live? Well, maybe it is time to start celebrating your freedom from captivity! Oh, but you don't feel free? Oh, but you are! You just forgot how to live in the freedom that Christ Jesus has brought you into:

 "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 836 KJV)

 I heard something interesting yesterday about the Prodigal Son, which was a parable Jesus shared about the love of the Father and the restoration of a fallen saint; or so it seemed. In the beginning of this story, the son asked for his father to give him his inheritance, but at the end of this parable, the son asked for his father to make him as one of his servants. 

 Oddly enough, we have been given a new life in Christ Jesus; and this life is abundant and free! The manner in which we live within it, however, is not given freely, because we cannot just say, 'God, please give me the ability to love, or give me the ability quit this, or give me the strength to start doing that.' Instead, we must ask Him to make us love, or to make us able to quit this, or to make us able to start doing that.

 He is always waiting for us to ask! Surprisingly, we ask Him to make us into this or that, and He will always make us into something greater than that which we asked for. On the flip side of this, every gift has a response attached it; much like the ten lepers that Jesus healed, and only one came back to thank Him. When we are given a gift, we are expected at celebrate what He has given...

""And the servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required."" (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)