Category: Reflections Blog

Living Sacrifice Day 17 – The Definition of Worship

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by memorizing Romans 12:1

This is our 17th day of our 40 day challenge of being a living sacrifice. We have meticulously broken down Romans 12:1 in an attempt to understand what it is Paul is teaching us about worship. So, let’s recap.

The words “in light of God’s mercy,” tell us that we should worship God not because we feel like it but because of what He has done for us.

The word “offer” is a keyword that tells us that our attitude in worship should be to give freely rather than feel like it’s an obligation or requirement.

“Your bodies” explains that God wants all of us – not merely our money, our time, or our talent. He wants us to be personally, wholly invested in serving Him.

“Living” is a word that tells us that as long as we are alive, every moment of our life should be dedicated to worshipping the Lord.

“Sacrifice” means that it will cost us. The life of a Believer is a gift that is offered to the Lord – a gift of obedience.

“Holy” means set apart. The discipline of being a living sacrifice, means we set apart the activity and predetermine it to be an act of worship. It means putting God first and foremost in our lives instead of giving Him the leftovers.

“Pleasing to God” compels us that the activity that we are to give to the Lord must please Him, and if we are to offer every activity as worship, then every activity must be something that agrees with His standard of quality and with His taste.

When we put those thoughts together, we come up with this interpretation of Romans 12:1, which may serve as a definition of worship.

“Worship is a voluntary activity in response to God’s goodness, predetermined to glorify God – a personal expression of gratitude at any time, at any day that is pleasing to the Lord.”

Ask yourself – is this my understanding of worship? Is this something that’s incorporated in my life? If we begin to live out a Romans 12:1 understanding of worship, you can bet our lives will be more and more transformed as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 16 – What’s In It for Me?

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Revelation 7:9-17

Have you ever been to a worship service and walked out with an amazing spiritual high? I can remember one worship service in particular where afterwards people were crying and hugging each other. It was so moving and profound.

When you think of mountain top experiences in the Bible, what events do you think about? Do you think about Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Sinai, Elijah hearing the voice of the Lord, David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, the disciples at the transfiguration? The one I think about as the most profound encounter is the account from today’s reading in Revelation 7.

The other day as I was reading this, I got chills. I think for first time it dawned on me that what John is describing here in Revelation 7 is a worship service that I, a future inhabitant of heaven, am participating in. In a sense, I’m reading about myself in the future. For some reason, I never realized the profundity of it, as I did the other day.

But notice the focus of this passage. There’s a sea of people, all wearing white, all transformed, all bowing before the throne. But every one’s attention is on the Lord. I think if John were to have interviewed one of these redeemed souls, they would not have responded by saying, “this is such a spiritual high for me,” but rather, “worthy is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” It says that day and night they don’t stop worshipping God. It’s like even after a million times of saying the same refrain, they can’t get over how Holy and Awesome God is.

Sometimes when we encounter God, there is an immediate profound effect on our life. However, at other times, we may not immediately sense some emotional or spiritual high. If we think about worship in the Old Testament, we think about those intense moments of worship, but how many times did people like Moses, Elijah, or David spend time worshiping the Lord that isn’t recorded in Scripture.

While we ought to be anxious for God to change us, the temptation can be that we worship God, only when we are looking for that mountaintop experience. And when that mountaintop experience doesn’t happen, we may feel like God didn’t show up. At that point, we are not looking at the Throne of God, we are looking inwardly at ourselves. And when we are focusing on ourselves, we will never be at the place God desires.

As Believers, we must not come to God with the attitude of “what will I get out of it?” we must put ourselves wholly into worshiping God, forgetting about what’s in it for us. Our only concern must be that God is getting all the glory. When we do that every day, every hour, every minute of our lives, we will not be anxious over emotional effects. God will have changed us little by little. We will have traveled baby steps down a long road, but at some point, we will look back and see that God has brought us a long way, and we will have no desire to go back.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 15 – Soli Deo Gloria

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Genesis 4:1-16

The great composer Johann Sabastian Bach wrote over 1100 compositions in his 65 years of life. It’s quite remarkable. These aren’t just simple three minute songs that we’re used to hearing on the radio; some are quite lengthy cantatas, chorales, and some are written for a number of instruments. Bach didn’t have Garage Band, recording devices, or some of the other fancy programs we might use to record and make musical notation. Living in the 1700s, he did this all by hand. Bach was commissioned by a number of various courts and churches to practice his art. However, no matter who he worked for, at the end of many of Bach’s compositions, he wrote three initials – S.D.G. They stand for the Latin words Soli Deo Gloria – To God alone be the glory.

As we’ve been talking about worship and Romans 12:1, we are now at the place where we are discussing what constitutes something as worship. Paul gives us two criteria. We discussed the first one yesterday – that the activity must be set apart. Today, we are talking about the second criteria – that the activity must be pleasing to God.

If you will recall, in the very first challenge I gave, I said that the beginning point to becoming a living sacrifice is to know God. If you don’t know God, you don’t know what pleases Him. This is extremely important. Today’s reading about Cain and Abel’s sacrifice gives us insight into this lesson. Abel knew what type of sacrifice God wanted and offered the first of his flock. Cain, a worker in the field, offered God some of his fruits and vegetables. God looked with favor on Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s.

Let’s step back for a moment and ask, “why did God reject Cain’s offering?” In a sense, Cain’s offering was personal. He worked the field, so naturally he offered something that he worked to produce. While that seems reasonable, that isn’t how God saw it. God wanted them to bring an animal sacrifice – most likely to begin the understanding of what it meant to sacrifice and the cleansing of sin through the shedding of blood. Instead of rising up to give what God wanted, Cain offered what he wanted.

While we have said that we can offer any activity at any time to be worship, the truth is, not every activity can be worshipful. The criteria that Paul states is that it must be pleasing to the Lord. Let me issue a strong warning here. There is a lot of teaching and activity mulling around the church today – teaching that it’s okay to divulge in the carnal, sinful pleasures, and those that teach these heresies are framing it as something that’s pleasing to God. People are cheating on their spouses, engaging in promiscuous and shameful behavior, ignoring their families, and mistreating others and labeling it as pleasing to the Lord. This is nonsense. Do not confuse what’s pleasing to yourself as pleasing to God. In the same sense that we can’t rob a bank and legitimately call that worship, not everything is pleasing to the Lord.

At the beginning of each day, each activity, each thought, the discipline of being a living sacrifice compels us to determine to set it apart to the Lord. At the end of the day, we should look over our day, our activities, and our thoughts and give the stamp that says, “Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone be all the glory.” If we can’t, in good conscience, put that stamp of approval on something we did, then we should work hard to eliminate that thought or activity from our day tomorrow. The purpose of everything we do is to glorify and honor the Lord. That’s what it means to be a living sacrifice.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 14 – Set Apart

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Colossians 3

About four years ago, my wife and I took a five week trip to Europe and Morocco. For the year leading up to the trip, we put away money each month that would be designated for this vacation. Even though there were times money was tight, we determined to do everything but dip into the trip savings.

Since we began, we have been talking about what worship is, based on Romans 12:1. It is a voluntary expression of love to God that can take on any form at any time. It’s not limited to a church building on Sunday morning or limited to singing and music. It’s not motivated by our emotions, rather it is a response to who God is and what He has done for us. Now, we are going to talk about the criteria that determines if an activity is worship or not. Paul gives us two of them. He tells us that in order for something to be worship it must be holy and pleasing to God. Let’s start with the first criteria – holy.

When we think of the word holy, we may think of majesty, splendor, other-worldly, or perfect. But that’s not what the word holy means. The word holy means “set apart.” In other words, Paul explains that worship must be an activity that is set aside or set apart to be worshipful.

This doesn’t mean that you have to set it apart days or weeks in advance. It may be that you decide at that moment that you are choosing to give the activity to the Lord. Sometimes even in a worship service, our minds start wandering, and we forget what it is we’re supposed to do. The moment you realize this and say, “God I’m going to give this activity to you,” you are setting apart the activity as worship. It’s as we talked about yesterday in the story of the widow giving her last two coins. Part of offering ourselves to God is setting apart the very thing He wants us to give and not holding back.

So what does it mean to be set apart? I think it can be summed up in two words – priority and purpose. First, it’s about giving God your first and best. It’s, as we talked about yesterday, refusing to give leftovers. It might be saying, “God I’m not going to take a job that offers me the most money and gives me little time to spend with my family; I’m going to take a job that maximizes the priority of my calling as a parent.” It’s as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Secondly, setting something apart is doing it with a purpose. Just as the purpose of that savings account was for our trip, Paul tells us that the purpose of our lives is to glorify God. Every action, activity, thought should be conformed to that purpose.

I remember getting an email from an older woman, asking me, “Why must I be a Christian? Why isn’t being good enough?” She was certainly a good person, involved in the community, giving to charity. But the answer to her question is purpose. She is doing those things for some reason – maybe to better herself, to better society, to follow instructions that her parents’ once gave her. But for a Believer, the purpose is much different. We set ourselves apart as a worship service to the Lord. We are no longer doing a job for money, or to please our boss, or to get a promotion, we are doing it as unto the Lord. This was Paul’s point in Colossians 3. Whatever you do, do it all as unto the Lord.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 13 – The Last Penny

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Mark 12:41-44

Every year around Christmas, we hear the bells ringing outside the grocery stores and the occasional clang of coins dropping into the red can. It’s the campaign that the Salvation Army does every year to raise money for their cause. Have you ever been in a situation where there’s an opportunity to give, and you look in your wallet only to find you have one bill left, and so you choose not to give?

What is it about that last bill? Why not give it away? Is it really about the money, or is it about something else? Is it about security – the safety of knowing that at least there’s some cash in your wallet if you get into a bind?

Today’s reading was about the widow who gave her last two coins. There’s debate about how much those coins were worth, and some argue that it could have been worth as much as $1.20. Amazingly, she gave it all. While we don’t know the exact worth, we know that they could have at least provided her with the security of knowing that she had something for herself. There are three lessons that we should take away from this story.

The first lesson here is not about how much money you should put in the offering plate, the lesson is about trust. Whenever we give to the Lord, we are trusting Him. God required an offering, not just to maintain the Temple, but to teach His people about trusting Him. It’s as Malachi 3:10 says, “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.’”

The second lesson is about giving without holding back. We don’t pass an offering plate often in our church, but I have to admit that when we do, I have at times felt the temptation to hold back. I dig through my wallet and see what I’ve got. If I only have one large bill, I feel the temptation to hold on to it. I have plenty of money in the bank, so it’s not like I’m dirt poor and that’s all I have to live on. It’s a security issue. Something about that $20 bill brings me security for whatever reason. However, when I give that money; I don’t miss it. I don’t get to the end of the month and say, “Man, I shouldn’t have given that $20! It’s more like, “Man, I didn’t really need to stop at Starbucks 10 times this month.”

The third lesson is about priorities. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul instructed the Church at Corinth to set apart their offerings on the first day of the week. Why? Because then, it would be their priority and they wouldn’t spend it on other things. I think we as Christians often fall into the temptation of giving leftovers – our leftover time, energy, and finances, instead of giving our firstfruit and best to the Lord. Sometimes our possessions become our security, and we essentially say, “Let me make sure I have what I need first, and the rest is the Lord’s.” In fact, I wonder if this widow had money at the beginning of the week and had chosen to set apart these two coins. If such was the case, she came through on her promise and gave to the Lord what she had set apart, even though it was all that she had left.

In our quest to be living sacrifices, ask God what He wants you to give of yourself. Then set that thing apart – whether it’s time, energy, money, talent or something else. When it comes time to give. Do not hold that thing back. Bring forth your offering joyfully, focused on how Jesus poured all of Himself out for you.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 12 – Poured Out

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Luke 7:36-50, John 12:1-8

I want you to imagine for a moment that you were at the party you just read about. You’re there eating, talking with some friends, and out of the corner of your eye you see a woman (someone with less than a stellar reputation) bathing Jesus with her hair. The aroma of the perfume quickly permeates the room. You detect the scent immediately. It is expensive, and she is pouring it out like water.

Now stop for just a moment. What are your initial reactions? Are you shocked? Are you horrified? I’m going to be honest with you; my first thought is “what in the world is going on? How is a Rabbi allowing this sinful woman to express herself to him like this in public?”

I think if we were all honest with ourselves, we would admit at least some level of discomfort with this story. We may be like Simon in Luke’s account and feel distaste at how this sinful woman was all over Jesus, or we may be like Judas in John’s account and feel like this act was a waste of money. Why might we feel that way?

Here’s why. Because we’re humans, and we are sinful. Have you ever seen someone express themselves dramatically in worship, and you began judging their actions? Maybe you thought, “that’s so annoying that they do that. It’s so distracting to others.” Have you ever seen someone poor give something away that you felt they couldn’t afford and thought of them unwise? This is because we’re still carnal creatures. It’s hard for us to accept another’s devotion to our same Heavenly Father if it’s not done the same way we like to do it. That’s just the way it is. Like the disciples stopping the children from coming to Jesus, we want to be God’s gatekeepers and determine what should and what shouldn’t get through. While there are indeed boundaries set for us in Scripture, we have to recognize that there’s a real temptation to deny others the opportunity to express their devotion to God. It’s no wonder why churches split over the most basic elements like music and expressions of worship. Even after 2000 years, we are still struggling with the same feelings that corrupted Simon and Judas.

The lesson for us is not merely accepting how and what others offer to the Lord, the lesson is to be the one offering to the Lord. Simon the Pharisee ignored Jesus during the entire party. Judas said his concern was for the poor, but Judas. the treasurer for Jesus’ ministry, was swindling money. They were missing the boat, and they lashed out like Cain did to Abel. Their sacrifice was fraudulent, and so they became jealous. We need not worry what others are doing if we are the ones offering to the Lord. When our eyes are focused on our Rabbi and are hands are busy anointing His feet, then we have no time to worry about how others are serving. We must be the Marys and find our place at Jesus’ feet.

The world and those with worldly minds will judge. They will stand before God’s altar and mock. They may tell you that you are doing a nice thing then talk about you behind your back. Don’t let that deter you. Stand before God and pour yourself out before Him. Listen to His voice and ask, “What is it Lord that you want of me?” and of that thing, do not hold back. He will ask you to give a hard sacrifice. It will cost you. It will hurt. But you will find yourself at the feet of Jesus, bowing before Him, cradled by His love and protection, anointing Him with the very thing He asked of you. He will affirm you, just as He affirmed Mary, and He will give you a crown that will last forever.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 11 – The Costly Sacrifice

Justin Hibbard

Begin by reading 2 Samuel 24:18-25.

I don’t know about you, but fasting is one of the most difficult disciplines for me. I can remember back in college when a group of my friends fasted solid food for 40 days. It was unbelievable. Some go about fasting in less dramatic ways, such as giving up meat or another particular food or fasting certain meals. So, what makes fasting so difficult? Well, it’s the idea of giving up something that we enjoy.

In Romans 12:1, Paul writes, “Therefore brothers and sisters, in light of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” The keyword in this verse is sacrifice. No, Paul is not telling us to kill ourselves; that’s why he emphasizes living sacrifices. But the word sacrifice gives us keen insight into what it means to live a life of worship and devotion.

In Old Testament times, God called His people to make sacrifices on various occasions. When someone came to the Temple, they either brought their animal or bought one there. The idea here is that everyone has to make their own personal sacrifice and give their own offering. Think about it like this: you wouldn’t say to yourself, “well, Joe put a couple of bucks in the offering plate today, so therefore, I don’t have to give today.” No, the sacrifice was personal, and it was every one’s responsibility to bring that gift to the Lord.

David understood this, and in 2 Samuel 24, we read about God commanding David to go to Araunah’s threshing floor and build an altar. When King David asks Araunah to buy his threshing floor, Araunah offers to give the floor and other items to David for free. That sounds reasonable. After all, if the president personally came asking for a tree in your backyard, a tomato from your garden, or something that you were selling at your yard sale, you might feel a little weird about telling him to show you the money. But David insisted on paying. Why? Because he said, “I will not sacrifice something to God that costs me nothing.”

When it doesn’t cost us anything, it ceases to be a sacrifice. It must cost us something. It’s like fasting. When fasting, we give up a pleasure. It would be pointless to say, “I’m going to fast meat,” if you’re already a vegetarian. There must be something we’re giving up in order for it to be sacrifice.

Well what are we sacrificing then? It might be food. It might be money. It might be our time. But the bottom line is that it has to be us totally. Our mentality should be, “the purpose of my life is to be a sacrifice to God.” When we say it that way, there is no cost too great and no gift too small. Meditate on that thought today. Tell God to help you have the mentality that you are a sacrifice totally devoted to Him, and ask Him to show you what it is He would like you to do.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 10 – The Most Precious Gift You Can Give

Justin Hibbard

Begin by reading Jeremiah 18:1-12

A friend of mine who is in med school shared with me his experience of practicing surgical procedures on human cadavers. He told me how it is such a great act of love and service to donate your body to science to help med students learn and develop. However, the thought of my body laying naked in front of a handful of students makes me feel… well vulnerable. I begin wondering how they’ll treat me, how they’ll see me. Will they be grossed out? Will they poke and prod unnecessarily? Fortunately, my friend said that the instructors teach the students a sense of reverence and respect for the deceased and to treat the cadavers as a gift.

In Romans 12:1, Paul urges us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. He’s not telling us to kill ourselves or merely donate our bodies after we pass away. He’s telling us to live for the Lord. So, why does he say, “offer your bodies?” Most likely it’s because it’s the most difficult, vulnerable, and complete gift we could possibly offer to the Lord.

Think about it, there’s a homeless person on the street, and out of compassion, you want to reach out and help him. What’s easier – giving a few dollars or taking the person around and getting them shelter and helping them out in a much bigger way? When I think of the latter, offering $5 is a cheap and easy alternative. Maybe it’s because helping them out will take our energy and our time.

We, in our western world, are stingy about our time in more ways than we are stingy about our money. When there’s a big enough problem, it’s easier to throw money at it and walk away. While giving financially is important, Paul is urging us to offer our bodies. This idea encompasses our time, money, and talent.

In a sense, offering our bodies is much like being a cadaver; it is offering ourselves to the Lord and saying, “do whatever you want with me.” It is dying to ourselves and laying before our Savior. That is the perfect place for a disciple of Jesus. In a sense, the Psalmist who said, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere,” is not talking about his proximity to God’s literal Temple but his surrendering to the Spirit of God.

But at the same time that we are being a cadaver before the Lord, we are anything but lifeless. We are actively responding to what He wants us to do – serving in full devotion. In Jeremiah 18:1-10, the Lord demonstrates His authority but also His desire. He is one that creates and molds His creation. He shapes history and directs lives. He does this to some degree whether or not we are complicit with His desire. But His desire for us is that we would lay down our lives before Him and say, “Here I am – your servant. Do with me what you will.”

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 9 – Open 24/7

Justin Hibbard

Begin by reading Psalm 84.

Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati had a great idea. They decided to open up their doors during the week, and so the public is always welcome to take advantage of their comfortable couches. And get this, they even offer free coffee, soda, and wifi. I have to say that if I lived around there, my loyalty to Starbucks might give way to free coffee.

We’ve been talking about the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem. It was the central place of worship for the Jewish people. Under the Jewish Law, pilgrimages to Jerusalem were expected on Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot. And because God’s presence was in the Most Holy Place, the closer you got to that Temple, the closer you got to God. However, as we saw in Leviticus 16, people couldn’t just go into the Most Holy Place however and whenever they wanted. Only the High Priest was permitted to go into the very presence of God in that sacred and haunting room, and only once a year.

How many times do we ask to see the Lord’s presence in our prayers and songs during our church services? Now imagine living in Old Testament times and knowing that you would never see God, or if you were fortunate enough to be a High Priest, knowing that you would only see God once a year. Sounds pretty limiting. Or imagine being the Jewish people during the time of Moses and being so afraid of the Lord’s presence, that they begged not to experience His glory. It’s a lot different than what we’re used to.

Well, fortunately, God does not live in a building; He dwells within us, and those restrictions no longer apply. We are the walking Most Holy Place. One of the Temple workers, infatuated with the House of God, says in Psalm 84:10, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” His point is that there’s no better place to be than in the presence of God. Fortunately, if you are a Believer, that house is open 24/7. You have access to the presence of God in a way which Aaron, Moses, or David never got to experience while they were alive on earth.

Do you take advantage of that 24/7 access to God? Do you live your life as though you are perpetually in the presence of God? Or do you forget? Meditate on this thought: you are the walking Most Holy Place – not just when you realize it, but every second of every day. God is really with you – not just when you are good, but all the time. The more you recognize that you are always in the Lord’s presence, the more your life will change, and the more you will be inclined to be a living sacrifice.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.

Living Sacrifice Day 8 – The Walking Most Holy Place

Justin Hibbard

Begin by reading Leviticus 16

The impression I get after reading Leviticus 16 is that God is untouchable. His presence is so powerful and we are so sinful, that we just can’t trod into God’s presence whenever and however we’d like. Did you catch what God told Moses in verse 2? “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place, or else he will die.” Why? Because God promised to really show up in the Most Holy Place, appearing as a cloud over top the Ark of the Covenant.

It is no wonder why the Temple was the most sacred place on earth. God showed up, and the closer you got to that inner room in the Temple, called the Most Holy Place, the closer you got to the Lord. Now imagine if you were the High Priest, you were required to tread cautiously and enter the very presence of God. But one wrong move, and you got zapped.

Well, something miraculous happened on the afternoon Jesus died – the curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Temple tore from top to bottom. Not long after that the Holy Spirit descended on believers gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Do you make the connection? God stopped dwelling in a building and started dwelling in His people. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”

Brothers and sisters, your church building is not the House of God, in the sense that it pertained to the Temple in Jerusalem before the crucifixion. I know some church denominations still have a sacred altar area, but I think this is a misunderstanding of Scripture. You are the walking Most Holy Place, and the blood that you carry that keeps you from getting zapped is the blood of Jesus the Messiah!

What does this mean? This means that you are perpetually in the presence of God. You never leave the Most Holy Place. Take some time to meditate on what you just read in Leviticus 16 and the power of the presence of God. Then think about you being that holy and awe-filled place and what it means that God Himself dwells within you.

Click here to subscribe to get the 40 Days of Living Sacrifice directly in your email.

Missed a day? You can find previous devotionals here.