Mary Visits Elizabeth

From: Our Daily Bread

Luke 1:39-45   (NIV)

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

His Name is Wonderful – Christmas Devotional – Dec. 15

From: Crosswalk.com

His Name is Wonderful

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 
Isaiah 9:6

Certain verses of Scripture leap to our minds as we draw close to Christmas. In the majestic titles of Jesus found in the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6, we find Him to be everything we need. We find Him not only the “reason for the season” but the name that should be on our lips every day as God puts us in touch with others over the Christmas holidays.

Who doesn’t need to know the Wonderful Counselor? Who doesn’t need to know this One who can offer advice when they are facing a difficult situation? This One who has the answers for their marriage and family dilemmas?

Who doesn’t need to know the Mighty God? You certainly know people who are dealing with a rebellious teenager or an aging parent or a sick child or an impossible job situation. When was the last time you told them how strong the arms of your God are? Perhaps you need to be reminded of how mighty God is by reading Isaiah 40.

Who doesn’t need to know the Eternal Father? Who doesn’t need the sense of hope that comes from knowing that—although we may suffer for a while—we have a God who dwells in eternity, which means that there is more to life than what we see around us?

Who doesn’t need to know the Prince of Peace? In a culture of road rage and long lines and short fuses, with strained relationships and simmering discontentment, who isn’t starving for deeper, more-lasting peace? Who doesn’t need to know why even the most desirable possessions and experiences leave them feeling unsatisfied? Who doesn’t need a peace that passes understanding? Who doesn’t need more of the Prince of Peace and His peace in their home?

This Christmas, be watching for people who need to know Jesus for who He is.

 

Everlasting Hope

From: Our Daily Bread

 December 18, 2017 

Read: Psalm 146 | Bible in a Year: Obadiah; Revelation 9

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:5

The week before Christmas, two months after my mom died, holiday shopping and decorating sat at the bottom of my priority list. I resisted my husband’s attempts to comfort me as I grieved the loss of our family’s faith-filled matriarch. I sulked as our son, Xavier, stretched and stapled strands of Christmas lights onto the inside walls of our home. Without a word, he plugged in the cord before he and his dad left for work.

As the colorful bulbs blinked, God gently drew me out of my darkness. No matter how painful the circumstances, my hope remained secure in the light of God’s truth, which always reveals His unchanging character.

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:5

Psalm 146 affirms what God reminded me on that difficult morning: My endless “hope is in the Lord,” my helper, my mighty and merciful God (v. 5). As Creator of all, He “remains faithful forever” (v. 6). He “upholds the cause of the oppressed,” protecting us and providing for us (v. 7). “The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down” (v. 8). He “watches over” us, “sustains” us, and will always be King (vv. 9–10).

Sometimes, when Christmas rolls around, our days will overflow with joyful moments. Sometimes, we’ll face loss, experience hurt, or feel alone. But at all times, God promises to be our light in the darkness, offering us tangible help and everlasting hope.

Father God, thanks for inviting us to know and rely on Your unchanging character as the source of our eternal hope.

God secures our hope in His unchanging character.

Gentleness

Read: Ephesians 4:1–6 | Bible in a Year: Amos 7–9; Revelation 8

Be completely humble and gentle. Ephesians 4:2

From: Our Daily Bread

The troubles of life can make us cranky and out of sorts, but we should never excuse these bouts of bad behavior, for they can wither the hearts of those we love and spread misery all around us. We have not fulfilled our duty to others until we have learned to be pleasant.

The New Testament has a word for the virtue that corrects our unpleasantness—gentleness, a term that suggests a kind and gracious soul. Ephesians 4:2 reminds us, “Be completely humble and gentle.”

Dear Lord, please help me to be kind and gracious to others today.

Gentleness is a willingness to accept limitations and ailments without taking out our aggravation on others. It shows gratitude for the smallest service rendered and tolerance for those who do not serve us well. It puts up with bothersome people—especially noisy, boisterous little people; for kindness to children is a crowning mark of a good and gentle person. It speaks softly in the face of provocation. It can be silent; for calm, unruffled silence is often the most eloquent response to unkind words.

Jesus is “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). If we ask Him, He will, in time, recreate us in His image. Scottish author George MacDonald says, “[God] would not hear from [us] a tone to jar the heart of another, a word to make it ache . . . . From such, as from all other sins, Jesus was born to deliver us.”

Dear Lord, I want to be a gentle person. Please help me to be kind and gracious to others today.

Humility toward God will make us gentle toward others.

Wrestling Before God

By Oswald Chambers

12/16/2017

Take up the whole armor of God…praying always… —Ephesians 6:13,18

You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24-25). Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— “take up the whole armor of God….”

Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28)— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, “Yes, it is the Lord’s will.” We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

Giving Ourselves in the Giving Season

From: CBN, and Nancy E. Head, author

“What do you need?” my husband asked the director of a local food pantry during the holidays one year. The two had just met ‘by chance’.

A big smile spread across Bob’s face. “Nothing.”

Then he outlined a story about a great need the pantry staff had faced the week before. For years, a local company donated $2,000 worth of turkeys every Christmas. But the company was now gone, replaced by a larger corporate entity.

No more turkeys.

Someone had made a donation that would have put a tiny dent in this need. But Christmas was coming fast.

Then Bob’s phone rang. A local grocer was in a panic. Someone had accidentally frozen dozens of turkeys labeled “fresh”. The company could write off the turkeys. But they could not sell them.

“When would you like us to pick them up?” Bob asked.

He has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer. Psalm 102:17 NASV

The holiday season is filled with stories of kindness. But only God could have “accidentally” provided so many turkeys, the exact need for the pantry’s patrons.

As miracles go, this one is small. But tiny miracles are sometimes the ones with the most power to encourage.

My friend was ringing a bell beside a red kettle. Passersby impressed her with their generous donations to the kettle and a gift of hot chocolate for her.

On social media, I read of a worn out mother trying to get her weary little ones through a restaurant lunch. A fellow diner paid for her family’s meals and helped her herd her flock to her car.

Two men in line at a busy store began to argue–each encouraging the other to go first.

My husband Paul and I were at the post office waiting to mail packages that were not quite ready to go. A stranger waiting with us helped me wrap. Paul held our places in line. She folded. I taped. The process was fun and not frustrating as it might have been.

Someone might argue that these encounters are nothing like real miracles. The laws of nature stood intact through each story.

Each encounter, though, reflects regard for neighbor over self. Each person who reached out touched others and those who stood by as witnesses.

Imago Dei–God’s image reflected in small acts of kindness. Wonderful little miracles to give hope to those in need, to a weary traveler, to a busy shopper.

Perhaps those who received their Christmas meals from the pantry did not realize the miracle of the turkeys. But we know that these meals, like manna, came from above.

We are on the cusp of the giving season that celebrates God giving Himself.

We can give the miracle of us and be imago Dei to others.

“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.” 1 Chronicles 28:14 NASV

Give Jesus Your Baggage

December 14, 2017 Give Jesus Your Baggage SHEILA WALSHFrom: Crosswalk.com

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’” Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

I can hardly believe that the darling little boy who used to run around the kitchen dragging his toy dinosaur is now 6 feet tall and preparing for medical school.

The years seem to have gone by so quickly. I think of all the hot Texas evenings we sat on our folding chairs for football practice, swatting mosquitoes the size of small cats. I think of endless school projects and the time he created a to-scale version of Solomon’s temple. I’ve learned so much through being a mom, both the things I got right and the things I messed up. But there’s one memory that taught me a huge lesson. It was all about baggage.

“Mom, I would like to have a family meeting,” my 10-year-old son announced after lunch one chilly Saturday.

“Sure!” I replied. “What’s up?”

Christian waited until my husband, Barry, and I were seated at the kitchen table before he dropped the following bombshell.

“Today, I am running away from home,” he said.

“Wow!” Barry said.

“Yes … wow. That’s huge news,” I added.

My first thought was, I am a terrible mother! This lovely child simply can’t take life under our roof anymore.

“Did I hurt your feelings, babe?” I asked. “Did Dad say something to make you feel bad?” Christian assured us we hadn’t done anything wrong — he simply wanted an adventure.

“Think about it, Mom,” he explained, “There’s you and Dad and the dog. Nothing big ever happens here. If I don’t go now, I’ll never have stories to tell.”

I attempted to keep a straight face as he informed us that he planned to head north and would return on weekends! With that, he stuffed as many things into his backpack as he could manage … his soccer ball, the dog’s blanket, a few books and a pint of vanilla ice cream. He kissed us both goodbye and headed out the backdoor to begin his new life in “the north.”

I ran upstairs and watched from the bedroom window to see where he was headed. He walked all the way around the lake behind our house, then sat down by the tree where he and his friends like to fish. I’d decided that when he moved on from there, I’d take our dog for a walk and try and stay far enough back so he wouldn’t see me. If he spotted me, I’d simply apologize and say I had no idea this was north! Instead of moving on, though, I realized he was coming home.

That night, once he’d said his prayers and was tucked in bed, I asked him if he’d enjoyed his adventure.

“I did, Mom,” he said. “But I think I’d have enjoyed it more if my bag wasn’t so heavy.”

I thought about that for a long time. I found myself wondering, How much baggage was I dragging through my days?

I don’t mean the dog’s blanket or a pint of ice cream, but the heavy stuff of life, the emotions, issues from the past that I didn’t know what to do with, so I’d pushed them down inside. That’s when this beautiful invitation from Jesus became so real to me.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest’” (Matthew 11:28).

Intercessory Prayer

December 13 

By Oswald Chambers

…men always ought to pray and not lose heart. —Luke 18:1

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.

Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.

What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.