Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the week off - our family went on a vacation together to Lewes, Delaware where Paul's family has a condominium. It doesn't really have reliable internet access so I wasn't able to post. It was the first time we'd been there in 6 years and probably the last time we will all get to be together due to everyone's schedules and life changes. It is a really nice place and close to the beach. I am so thankful that I was able to be there with my family. We even were able to attend my graduation at Drexel University - I was able to finish the course work in spite of so many obstacles and I am thankful to the Lord for allowing me to have such a great distraction from all the other "stuff". I am also thankful that He enabled me to use my brain cells, which I thought were really deteriorating. They were able to get a workout and be used!

I have significantly less pain today - only when I get in and out of bed, a car etc. and use those abdominal muscles to I feel any. I have a CT scan and blood work on July 11 and see Dr. Berkowitz on July 18. I am still taking those supplements but they have caused some digestive problems so please pray for the Lord's leading in this area. These supplements are very expensive so I don't know how long I will be able to take them, but they are strengthening my immune system, which is necessary. I am still trying to eat healthily but it is harder in the summer since due to the heat no one wants to eat soup.

The house is still torn apart on all 3 levels - it is quite difficult to move around, find things or relax much in this kind of atmosphere. It is a good thing that we can find refuge in a wonderful person, the Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 6:18-20
18 In order that by two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us,

19 Which we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and firm and which enters within the veil,

20 Where the forerunner, Jesus, has entered for us, having become forever a High Priest according to the border of Melchisedec.

These verses are so wonderful - we have strong encouragement - we who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us - and that hope is an anchor to our soul and it is also within the veil where Jesus is! These verses are too marvelous.

Here is an excerpt from the Life Study of Hebrews, Message 30 about the refuge, the anchor and the forerunner:

I. THE REFUGE

Verse 18 speaks of having “fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” Have you ever heard that the New Testament tells us to flee into a refuge? The Greek word translated “have fled for refuge” means to flee intensively; it refers to an intensified fleeing. The Greek word does not have the meaning of refuge. The simple English equivalent is “fled.” The Greek word is the same word used in Acts 14:6, where we are told that the Apostle Paul fled the persecution in the city... From what are we fleeing? From everything other than Christ and the church life. We must flee from the world...and from ourselves. We must flee the department stores, the course of this age, religion, our old concepts, and every kind of tradition. We must flee anything that keeps us away and holds us back from Christ. I have consulted a number of translations of this verse. Some versions say, “fled the world.” We must flee our old position, ambition, and self-love. We must flee everything. The writer of this book undoubtedly wanted the Hebrew believers to flee Judaism, their old religion. It would have been dangerous for them to remain in it; they had to flee. The Greek word for flee implies fleeing to a safeguard. This is the reason the translators added the words “for refuge.” The writer seemed to be saying, “Hebrew Christians, you are in a very dangerous situation and you need to flee to a safeguard.”

Where is this safeguard, this safety, into which we must flee? It is in the spirit, in the church, and in the heavenlies. What is there in the heavenlies? The Holy of Holies within the veil. The Hebrew Christians were in danger of being held back in the camp. They had to flee into the veil. The writer seemed to be saying, “Flee within the veil, into the Holy of Holies, into your spirit. Don’t stay in your staggering soul. Flee your wandering mind. Flee into your spirit where you can be safe.” Although it is difficult to say definitely what the refuge is, we may say that it is the heavenlies where the Lord Jesus is today.

II. THE ANCHOR

According to the context of 6:9-20, the writer, using the word “anchor,” pictures us all as being on a stormy sea. Since we are in a boat sailing on a stormy sea, we need an anchor. Undoubtedly, the safeguard into which we must flee is our haven. This haven is in our spirit, in the church life, and in the Holy of Holies in the heavenlies where the Lord Jesus is. If we would stay in this haven, we must have an anchor. The anchor is our hope (vv. 18-19) which is constituted with two unchangeable things—God’s promise and God’s oath (vv. 12-18). God’s promise is confirmed by His oath. God’s promise is God’s word, and God’s oath is His final confirmation. By God’s promise and oath, both of which are unchangeable, we have our faith and patience, issuing in our hope which is the anchor of our soul. Our hope, as a secure and firm anchor, has entered into the Holy of Holies within the veil and holds on to it, and we may now enter in spirit (10:19-20). By this anchor of hope we are held to the Holy of Holies. Without it, we may shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:19).

We must flee whatever situation we are in. Every situation is a stormy sea. Are you rich? Your riches are a stormy sea. Are you poor? Your poverty is a stormy sea. To say that every situation is a stormy sea simply means that it can hold you back, keeping you from entering into today’s rest. This is the danger. Consider the type of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Although maybe two million came out of Egypt, only two of them entered into the rest. All the others were distracted. Do we not face the same possibility today? There is not one thing which cannot hold us back... We are the fleers. We even must flee our own country and locality. The writer included himself in this matter of fleeing, for he used the word “we” in verse 18. After saying so many good things in the foregoing chapters, he concluded with the word “flee.”

III. THE FORERUNNER

The writer now tells us that Christ is not only the Captain of our salvation, but also our Forerunner. The Lord Jesus as the Forerunner took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchisedec. As such a Forerunner, He is the Captain of our salvation (2:10). As the Forerunner, He has cut the way to glory, and as the Captain, He has entered into glory, into the Holy of Holies within the veil. In order to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil, the Lord Jesus fled everything. He fled His mother. He fled His brothers (Matt. 12:46-50). He fled Judaism and entered within the veil. Here we are not told that Jesus entered into the heavens, but that He entered “into that which is within the veil.” He entered into the presence of God. He fled everything to enter into the presence of God within the veil, where we anchor our hope with full assurance (vv. 19, 11).

How wonderful that we can flee for refuge! How wonderful that we can flee to our spirit where the Lord Jesus is!

Here is a wonderful hymn by Charles Wesley about all that we have in Christ. Here is a link to the tune, which is quite lovely:

1 Thou hidden source of calm repose,
Thou all-sufficient love divine;
My help and refuge from my foes,
Secure I am, if Thou art mine;
From sin and grief, from guilt and shame,
I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.

2 Jesus, my All in all Thou art,
My rest in toil, mine ease in pain;
The med'cine of my broken heart;
In war, my peace; in loss, my gain;
My smile beneath the tyrant's frown;
In shame, my glory and my crown.

3 In want, my plentiful supply;
In weakness, mine almighty power;
In bonds, my perfect liberty;
My light in Satan's darkest hour;
In grief, my joy unspeakable;
My life in death; my Lord, my all.

So, in the midst of troubles, we can flee for refuge!
Praise Him.

Love you all,
Joanne