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Praying in Jesus’ Name – Charles Stanley

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John 16:19-33

Shortly before the crucifixion, Jesus told His followers to pray in His name—in other words, to make requests according to His will. He pointed out that power is attached to prayer offered this way: “The Father will give you whatever you ask in My name” (John 15:16 niv). Supplication in Christ’s name means we’re declaring our . . .

• Association with the Savior. What makes it possible for us to approach God through prayer is our relationship with Jesus. At salvation, we went from being foreigners and aliens to being children of God. (Eph. 2:19) Our Creator has become our heavenly Father. He hears our requests because we have been made family through the redemptive work of His Son. The presence of Christ’s Spirit within us proves we are one of His own.

• Access to the Father. Jesus’ death opened the way for us to have immediate, unhindered admittance to the Father’s presence. When Jesus finished His work in making the final priestly sacrifice (Heb. 7:28), the veil in the temple, which closed off the Holy of Holies from man, was torn in two. (Mark 15:38) This symbolized the spiritual truth that access to God was now open to all who believe. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the right to talk to God directly without a human intermediary (Eph. 2:18).

Jesus Christ fully paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross. Accepting His atoning death on our behalf means we are in a new family relationship and we have unhindered access to the Father. Let’s stop right now and give thanks to God for the incredible privilege of prayer!

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Which Virgin Birth? – Ravi Zacharias

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A while back I received an email from a friend of mine, a retired Princeton University professor, in which he detailed some of his objections to Christianity, and in his last line—as if to trump all other considerations—he wrote, “Nor can I believe in a virgin birth.” No further argument. As if to say, it would be crazy to believe in such a thing.

It did make me think, why is it so often the virgin birth that we have the hardest time accepting? Why not Jesus walking on water? Why not him multiplying the loaves?

Maybe it’s because we’re happy for God to do what he wants with his own body, and we’re happy for him to give us gifts, but we get offended at the thought of a miracle that inconveniences us, that has a claim on our lives, that requires us to respond “I am the Lord’s servant,” as Mary did (Luke 1:38).

I thought to write back to my friend with reasons why perhaps he could believe in a virgin birth. But then I realized, he already does. In fact, every person is committed to a virgin birth, whether they realize it or not.

We find one virgin birth in Chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel:

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:38).

Admittedly, this is out of the realm of the ordinary. But what exactly is the alternative?

My colleague John Lennox recently debated another Princeton professor—Peter Singer—who is one of the world’s most influential atheists. John challenged him to answer this question: why are we here? And here’s how Peter responded:

“We can assume that somehow in the primeval soup we got collections of molecules that became self-replicating; and I don’t think we need any miraculous or mysterious .”(1)

And I remember thinking, How does us somehow getting self-replicating molecules in the primeval soup not count as a mysterious explanation? That sounds a lot like a virgin birth to me.

Or take the brilliant Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking’s latest attempt to propose an atheistic explanation for our universe: “. . . the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”(2)

Is that any less miraculous of a birth than the account from Luke Chapter 1?

We live in a miraculous world. Regardless of whether you are a theist, an atheist, or an agnostic, there’s no getting around that fact. It’s not a matter of whether we believe in a virgin birth, it’s just a matter of which virgin birth we choose to accept.

We can believe in the virgin birth of an atheistic universe that is indifferent to us—a universe where “there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”(3) Or we can believe in the virgin birth of a God who loves us so deeply that he came to be born among us and to live beside us, to call us “family” (Hebrews 2:11) and “friends” (John 15:15), and to give himself the name “God with us” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).

There is a depth of relationship that is only possible between people who have been through the worst together— those who have been there in each other’s suffering, those who have fought through disaster side by side, those who have sat beside one another in devastation with nothing left to say other than “I know exactly what you’ve been through, and I still love you and I still believe in you.” Because of Jesus, that depth of relationship is possible with God. That is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Growing up near New York City, one of my most vivid memories of Christmas is of homeless people begging on the street corners. And I would give some change if I had some. Imagine someone who offers to trade his home for a cold street corner, who instead of giving a few coins sat down on the street corner himself and handed over the key to his home.

At Christmas, Jesus literally comes and lives in our home—with all of its suffering, sin, and shame—and he shows us the home it will be, the home he is preparing—an eternal home where “[God] will wipe every tear from [our] eyes,” where there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4).

The way we accept this gift is with simple words: I’m sorry. Thank you.

I’m sorry for the times I’ve hid from you. I’m sorry for the times I’ve run from you. I’m thankful that you didn’t give up on me, but were willing to make even the greatest sacrifice in order to be with me. I want to be with you too, wherever that leads, not only this Christmas but always.

Vince Vitale is a member of the speaking team with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Oxford, England.

(1) “Is There a God,” Melbourne, Australia. 21 July 2011.

(2) Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design (New York: Bantam, 2010), 180.

(3) Richard Dawkins, A River Out of Eden (New York: Perseus, 1995), 133.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “I will give thee for a covenant of the people.” / Isaiah 49:8

Jesus Christ is himself the sum and substance of the covenant, and as one of

its gifts. He is the property of every believer. Believer, canst thou estimate

what thou hast gotten in Christ? “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the

Godhead bodily.” Consider that word “God” and its infinity, and then meditate

upon “perfect man” and all his beauty; for all that Christ, as God and man,

ever had, or can have, is thine–out of pure free favour, passed over to thee

to be thine entailed property forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is

omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all

these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours? Has he power? That

power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome your enemies, and to

preserve you even to the end. Has he love? Well, there is not a drop of love

in his heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of his

love, and you may say of it all, “It is mine.” Hath he justice? It may seem a

stern attribute, but even that is yours, for he will by his justice see to it

that all which is promised to you in the covenant of grace shall be most

certainly secured to you. And all that he has as perfect man is yours. As a

perfect man the Father’s delight was upon him. He stood accepted by the Most

High. O believer, God’s acceptance of Christ is thine acceptance; for knowest

thou not that the love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, he sets on

thee now? For all that Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which

Jesus wrought out, when through his stainless life he kept the law and made it

honourable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is in the covenant.

“My God, I am thine–what a comfort divine!

What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine!

In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am,

And my heart it doth dance at the sound of his name.”

 

Evening   “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.” / Luke 3:4

The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the Lord, a way

prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness. I would be attentive to the

Master’s proclamation, and give him a road into my heart, cast up by gracious

operations, through the desert of my nature. The four directions in the text

must have my serious attention.

Every valley must be exalted. Low and grovelling thoughts of God must be given

up; doubting and despairing must be removed; and self-seeking and carnal

delights must be forsaken. Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of

grace must be raised.

Every mountain and hill shall be laid low. Proud creature-sufficiency, and

boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled, to make a highway for the King

of kings. Divine fellowship is never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded

sinners. The Lord hath respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in

heart, but the lofty are an abomination unto him. My soul, beseech the Holy

Spirit to set thee right in this respect.

The crooked shall be made straight. The wavering heart must have a straight

path of decision for God and holiness marked out for it. Double-minded men are

strangers to the God of truth. My soul, take heed that thou be in all things

honest and true, as in the sight of the heart-searching God.

The rough places shall be made smooth. Stumbling-blocks of sin must be

removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be uprooted. So great a

visitor must not find miry ways and stony places when he comes to honour his

favoured ones with his company. Oh that this evening the Lord may find in my

heart a highway made ready by his grace, that he may make a triumphal progress

through the utmost bounds of my soul, from the beginning of this year even to

the end of it.

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Blessing the God of Blessings – John MacArthur

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us” (Eph. 1:3).

Paul’s brief doxology identifies God the Father as the ultimate recipient and source of blessing–the One to whom blessing is ascribed and the One who bestows blessings on those who love Him.

“Blessed” translates the Greek word euloge[ma]o, from which we get eulogy. To bless or eulogize God is to praise Him for His mighty works and holy character.

That should be the response of your heart just as it has been the response of believers throughout the ages. The psalmist said “Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer” (Ps. 66:20); and “blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders” (Ps. 72:18). Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).

When the situation is reversed and God blesses us, it isn’t with praise, for apart from Him there is nothing praiseworthy about us. Instead, He gives us undeserved benefits through His many deeds of kindness. Scripture identifies Him as the source of every good thing (James 1:17), who works all things together for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

That is but a sampling of the many blessings He lavishes on us in His Son, Christ Jesus. It’s a marvelous cycle: God blesses us with deeds of kindness; we bless Him with words of praise.

Beware of the sin of thanklessness. Recognize God’s blessings in your life and let them fill your heart and lips

Suggestions for Prayer:   Identify ten specific blessings that God has granted to you in recent days and praise Him for each one.   Ask Him to make you more aware of and thankful for His goodness in your life.  Always be ready to seek forgiveness when you take His blessings for granted.

 

For Further Study:  Read Psalm 103 What blessings does David mention?   How do they apply to your life?

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Missing the Point – Greg Laurie

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And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. —1 Timothy 1:12–13

Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, had a ravenous hunger for knowledge and wanted to be as devout as possible. As a Pharisee, he worked his way up the ranks and became a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, which was like the Supreme Court of that day. With this honor, he would have enjoyed great fame and influence.

However, it could be said that Saul was both famous and, ultimately, infamous. He felt that the followers of the Nazarene known as Jesus were dangerous. He thought they needed to be wiped off the face of the earth. So he made it his mission in life to hunt them down. But he didn’t stop with the Christians who were in his area or jurisdiction. He got extradition papers from the high priest and actually set out for Damascus, which was 140 miles from Jerusalem.

Although it was an arduous and difficult journey, Saul was so filled with hatred that he would go anywhere to find Christians and stop them. He later wrote that he did this ignorantly in unbelief (see 1 Timothy 1:13).

It is hard to understand how a religious person can also be a hateful person. But sometimes people who claim to be devout can be very mean and actually use their religion as a means to destroy. That certainly was a description of Saul.

It can be very frustrating to have to deal with fellow Christians who try to undermine us or hinder us sometimes. But as Vance Havner pointed out, “If we are too busy using our sickles on one another, we’re going to miss the harvest.”

When we are so busy with infighting and arguing over minor points, we can miss the big picture of a lost world that needs to hear the gospel.

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Obeying God – Charles Stanley

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Jeremiah 9:23-24

Peter was a professional fisherman. He knew how to read weather conditions, where to find the best places to fish, and when to end an unproductive session. Because of his expertise, he may have silently questioned the reasonableness of Jesus’ instruction. Why let down the nets when an experienced team of fishermen hadn’t caught anything all night?

At times God asks His children to act in ways that may not seem logical. His request might involve leaving a job or ministry that He provided only recently, taking on more responsibility when life already feels overloaded, or accepting an assignment that appears better suited for someone with a different skill set. Perhaps God’s plan makes no sense in view of age, finances, or health. Yet, because of the One who asks, it will be the absolutely right thing to do. We must decide whether to do what is sensible by human standards or to obey God.

The Bible talks about many people who had to make such a choice. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. Noah was told to build an ark on dry land because a flood was coming. Joshua was given a military strategy of marching around Jericho instead of attacking it. Gideon, the inexperienced fighter, was told to send most of his warriors home before the battle (Judges 7:2-3).

Don’t make the mistake of allowing human logic to dictate whether you follow God’s plan. Trust in Him as Peter and those other faithful believers did. When they chose to obey what the Lord was saying, they all experienced divine power released on their behalf.

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Nativity Scenes – Ravi Zacharias

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I have always insisted that my position on December birthdays is that its proprietors are easily neglected. (As a kid, I thought it was a clever way of inspiring sympathy and presents.) We are over-shadowed by Christmas decorations in November and over-looked in December by relatives busy with Christmas errands and office parties. And yet, I have always secretly loved it. On the day I was born, the world was awake, decking the halls, and a great number of them were looking to the birth of another infant. The spirit of Christmas seems a part of my own, the birth of Christ a part of my identity, reminding me each year that I too was born, that I was fragile, that I was held. For those born in December (and for any who remember their own beginnings in the scenes of Advent), the season offers a time of contemplating infantile beginnings, a lesson in what it means to be human, like no other. Stories and celebrations of one’s birth are juxtaposed with a nativity story told long before we were born and one that will continue to be told long after us.

In fact the story of Christianity is a story filled with nativity scenes. In these stories, we are told of a God who is present before we have accomplished anything and longing to gather us long before we know it. Thus David can pray, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” And God can say to the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And those who witnessed the miracle of Elizabeth and Zechariah can rightly exclaim God’s hand upon the child before that child could say his own name: “The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord’s hand was with him.”(1)

In a world where significance and identity are earned by what we do, by what we have accomplished, by what we own, and Christmas is about the lines we fought, the lists we finished, the gifts we were able to secure, the kingdom of God arrives scandalously, jarringly—even offensively—into our captive and often content lives. In this kingdom, a person’s value begins before she has said or done the right things, before he has accumulated the right lifestyle, or even thought to make the right lists. In this kingdom, God not only uses children in the story of salvation, not only calls us to embrace the kingdom as little children, but so the very God of creation steps into the world as a child.

Children are not usually the main characters in the stories we tell, yet the story of Christmas begins and ends with a child most don’t quite know what to do with. Here, a vulnerable baby in a stable of animals breaks in as the harbinger of good news, the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets, the anointed leader who comes to set the captives free—wrapped in rags and resting in a manger. Coming as a child, God radically draws near, while at the same time radically overthrowing our conceptions of status, worth, power, and authority. Jesus is crowned king long before he can sit in a throne. He begins overturning idols and upsetting social order long before he can even speak.

If truth be told, perhaps I feel a certain delight in celebrating births and birthdays at Christmastime because it is the season in which it is most appropriate—and most hopeful—to remember our fragility, our dependency, and the great reversal of the kingdom of God: For God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.(2) Advent, like childhood, reminds us that we are in need of someone to hold us. It also reminds us that, like the baby in a Bethlehem stable, we too are somewhat out of place, longing for home in the midst of it. The image of a tearful baby in a manager is a picture of God in his most shocking, unbefitting state—the Most High becoming the lowest, the face of God wrapped tightly in a young girl’s arms.

How true that to be human is to be implicitly religious, for even within our most deeply felt needs for love and refuge, we are reminded that there is one who comes so very far to meet us. Inherent in our most vulnerable days, whoever we are, is the hope that God, too, took on the despairing quality of fragility in order to offer the hope of wholeness. In our most weakened states of despair and shortcoming, Christ breaks in and shows the paradoxical power of God in an unlikely nativity scene. Glory to God in the lowest, indeed.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) cf. Psalm 139:13-14, Jeremiah 1:5, Luke 1:65-66.

(2) 1 Corinthians 1:27.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “Continue in prayer.” / Colossians 4:2

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied

with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts,

or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, “Then

began men to call upon the name of the Lord;” and just as we are about to

close the volume, the “Amen” of an earnest supplication meets our ear.

Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob–there a Daniel who

prayed three times a day–and a David who with all his heart called upon his

God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have

multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but

the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever

God has made prominent in his Word, he intended to be conspicuous in our

lives. If he has said much about prayer, it is because he knows we have much

need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must

not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy

poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord’s mercy show

thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping

of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of

the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the

comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God,

thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love. Pray that

this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer

communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of his

love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that

thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must

be, “Continue in prayer.”

 

Evening  “Let the people renew their strength.” / Isaiah 41:1

All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth by itself.

“Thou renewest the face of the year,” was the Psalmist’s utterance. Even the

trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with

labour, must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures of

the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day

by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth. Neither can man’s life

be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste

of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by

feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the

soul-fattening table of the ordinances. How depressed are our graces when

means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without

the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live

without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had

begotten it, it would wait upon him as the flowers wait upon the dew. Without

constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or

the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When the

whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap,

and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots. When tempests arise, woe to

the mariners that have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor

sought the haven. If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely

gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so,

perhaps, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us

draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall

realize the fulfilment of the promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew

their strength.”

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Experiencing God’s Peace – John MacArthur

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“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:2)

Throughout history mankind has sought peace through military alliances, balances of power, and leagues of nations. Yet lasting peace still remains an elusive dream. Even during times of relative peace, nations struggle with internal strife and crime.

The Bible says that man on his own cannot know peace because he is alienated from its source. But we need not despair. True peace is immediately available from God our Father (the God of peace–Rom. 15:33), and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Prince of Peace–Isa. 9:6). It’s a gift of God’s grace to those who love and obey Jesus Christ.

The New Testament so clearly teaches the inextricable link between God’s grace and peace that “Grace to you and peace” became a common greeting in the early church. Grace is God’s great kindness toward those who are undeserving of His favor but who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. It is the fountain and peace is the stream. As recipients of His grace, we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1)–we are reconciled to Him through faith in His Son and we will never experience His wrath. We also have the peace of God (Phil. 4:7)–the Spirit’s way of assuring us that God is in control even in the midst of difficult circumstances. That’s why Paul calls it the peace that surpasses all comprehension (Phil. 4:7).

The world’s peace is relative and fleeting because it is grounded in circumstances. God’s peace is absolute and eternal because it is grounded in His grace. Does God’s peace reign in your heart, or have you allowed sin or difficult circumstances to diminish your devotion to Christ?

Suggestions for Prayer:      Thank God that you have peace with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Ask the Spirit to reveal any sin that might be hindering God’s peace from ruling in your heart. Be prepared to respond in confession and repentance. Ask for opportunities to demonstrate God’s peace to others today.

For Further Study:  Read Philippians 4:6-7    What is God’s antidote for anxiety?    How does God’s peace affect a believer’s heart and mind?

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Closer Than You Think – Greg Laurie

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“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.”

— Acts 26:9

Does it ever seem impossible to you that God could save certain people? Is there someone you know right now who is not a believer and, in fact, seems far from becoming one? Maybe it is almost laughable to envision this person carrying a Bible around and saying something like, “Praise the Lord!”

In the book of Acts we find the story of one of the most amazing conversions of all time—a conversion so unexpected that even the Christians at the time didn’t think it was possible. I am speaking of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, later to become the great apostle Paul. The interesting thing about Saul’s conversion is that he was one of the most radical antagonists of the early church. It was Saul who presided over the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the church who courageously stood up for his faith.

It was Saul who went out of his way to literally hunt down Christians, imprison them, and even destroy them. This man was bent on the eradication of the Christian faith.

If you know an antagonistic person, someone who seems to go out of his or her way to make your life miserable, someone who is always trying to stump you with a hard question, it just may be they are closer to the kingdom of God than you realize.

Sometimes the people who attack the most, the people who are the greatest mockers and antagonists, are those who are actually under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And that is why they do what they do. The person who is the most opposed to the things of God may be actually closer than you think.

Remember, no one is beyond the reach of God—no one. So start praying for them by name.

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The Spirit That Conquers – Charles Stanley

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Philippians 3: 7-14

Paul was a man with a spirit that conquered. Throughout his ministry, he faced countless obstacles but never gave up. He pictured the Christian life as a race, and we each need this same kind of spirit if we hope to finish well.

Courage: A conquering spirit is willing to risk failure. Though we naturally want to appear strong and capable, God delights in empowering us in our weaknesses so He gets the glory.

Confidence: We’re likely to stumble when we doubt our ability to do what God requires. However, when our confidence is placed in the Lord instead of in ourselves, we can move ahead, knowing that He’ll enable us to do His will.

Commitment: The Lord promises to: guide us as we run the race; provide whatever is needed; and strengthen us along the way. However, we must be committed to Him and determined to carry out His will.

Persistence: The road we’re traveling is full of distractions, opposition, and obstacles that tempt us to give up. That’s why Paul advises us to “press on” through hardships toward that which is of eternal value (v. 14).

Forward Focus: We must also forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (v. 13). Those weighed down by baggage from the past lose sight of the goal.

The key to success in this race is an all-consuming desire to reach the goal. If we find no value in the prize, we’ll readily give up along the way and settle for the immediate gratification the world offers. But if we understand what awaits us at the finish line in heaven, we’ll press on.

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The Twelve Days of Christmas – Ravi Zacharias

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The floor contains the remnants of torn wrappings, boxes, and bows. The stockings hang lifeless from the mantel, empty of all their contents. Leftovers are all that are left of holiday feasting. Wallets are empty and feelings of buyer’s remorse begin to descend and suffocate. On the morning after Christmas, thus begins the season of let down.

It’s not a surprise really. For many in the West, the entire focus of the Christmas season is on gift-giving, holiday parties, and family gatherings, all of which are fine in and of themselves. But these things often become the centerpiece of the season. Marketers and advertisers ensure that this is so and prime the buying-pump with ads and sales for Christmas shopping long before December. Once November ends, the rush for consumers is on, and multitudinous festivities lead to a near fever pitch. And then, very suddenly, it is all over.

In an ironic twist of history, Christmas day became the end point, the full stop of the Christmas season. But in the ancient Christian tradition, Christmas day was only the beginning of the Christmas season. The oft-sung carol The Twelve Days of Christmas was not simply a song sung, but a lived reality of the Christmas celebration.(1) In the traditional celebrations, the somber anticipation of Advent—waiting for God to act—flowed into the celebration of the Incarnation that began on Christmas day and culminated on “twelfth night”—the Feast of Epiphany.

For twelve days following Christmas, Christians celebrated the “Word made flesh” dwelling among them. The ancient feasts that followed Christmas day all focused on the mystery of the Incarnation worked out in the life of the believers. Martyrs, evangelists, and ordinary people living out the call of faith are all celebrated during these twelve days.

Far from being simply an alternative to the way in which Christmas is currently celebrated or an antidote to post-Christmas ‘let down,’ understanding the early history and traditions of Christian celebrations can reunite the world with the true focal point of the Christmas season. ”The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory…and of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:14-16). Far more than giving gifts or holiday feasts, the joy of Christmas is that God came near to us in Jesus Christ. The Incarnation affirms that matter matters as God descends to us and adopts a dwelling made of human flesh. Far from a let down, we have the opportunity to be lifted up and united to God through Jesus Christ.

A simple poem by Madeline Morse captures the calling of the twelve days of Christmas:

Let Christmas not become a thing

Merely of merchant’s trafficking,

Of tinsel, bell, and holly wreath

And surface pleasure, but beneath

The childish glamour, let us find

Nourishment for heart and mind.

Let us follow kinder ways

Through our teeming human maze,

And help the age of peace to come.(2)

Living out the mystery of the Incarnation is a daily celebration.  The celebration began on Christmas Day.

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

(1) Edwin and Jennifer Woodruff Tait, “The Real Twelve Days of Christmas,” Christianity Today, August 8, 2008.

(2) Madeline Morse from the compiled readings by Rebecca Currington, Remember the Reason: Focusing on Christ at Christmas (Honor Books: Colorado Springs, CO, 2007), 7.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” / Joshua 5:12

Israel’s weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained.

No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling

wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they

ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader,

this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in

active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest

which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to

expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan

which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that

we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us.

Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in

the prospect that this year we shall begin to be “forever with the Lord.”

A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their

Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s

text should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The

Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us “glory begun

below.” In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus;

there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial

spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they

rest in his love, and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and

it is our privilege to bless him too. We will this year gather celestial

fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the

garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for

grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this

year!

 

Evening   “We will be glad and rejoice in thee.” / Song of Solomon 1:4

We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will not open the gates of the year to

the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of

joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. “O come, let us sing unto the

Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation.” We, the

called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our

banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their

troubles, we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool,

with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we

who are the temples in which thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and

blessing the name of Jesus. We will, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have

the crown of our heart’s delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by

mourning in his presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies,

let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the

New Jerusalem. We will be glad and rejoice: two words with one sense, double

joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in

the Lord even now? Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and

spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they

in heaven itself? We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. That last word is the

meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens

are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye,

and every drop of their fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art

the present portion of thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of

thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and

rejoice in thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close

with gladness in Jesus.

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The Measure of True Success – John MacArthur

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“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1).

Our society is success oriented. We love success stories. We even have television programs that exalt the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But God’s standard for success is quite different. Unimpressed by our status or wealth, He looks instead for faithfulness to His will.

Paul understood that principle and diligently pursued his calling as an apostle–one of those unique men who were foundational to the church and recipients, teachers, and writers of the New Testament.

That was a high calling, yet judging from Paul’s lifestyle most people would hardly call him successful– having suffered imprisonments, beatings, death threats, shipwrecks, robberies, hatred from his theological enemies, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, and exposure to the elements (2 Cor. 11:23-27). But none of those things deterred him from obeying God’s will. His final testimony was, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). That’s true success! Although we’re not apostles, we’re to follow Paul’s example of faithfulness (1 Cor. 11:1). That’s possible because, like the Ephesian believers, we are “saints [holy ones] . . . who are faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1). By God’s grace we’ve trusted in Christ as our Lord and Savior (Eph. 2:8-9) and received His righteousness (Phil. 3:9), Spirit (Eph. 3:16), and every spiritual resource necessary for faithful, victorious Christian living (Eph. 1:3).

What remains is to cultivate greater love for Christ and more consistent obedience to His Word. Those are the hallmarks of a true disciple and God’s measure of success. Make it your goal that your life today warrants the Lord’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful [servant]” (Matt. 25:21).

Suggestions for Prayer:  Praise God for His wonderful grace, by which He granted you salvation and all the spiritual resources you need.

Thank Him for His Word, where you learn the principles of godly living.

Ask Him for opportunities today to encourage the faithfulness of others.

 

For Further Study:  Read Ephesians 1:3-4; 2:10; Titus 2:11-12

What is the goal of your salvation?

Are you living each day in light of that goal?

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The Essential Gospel – Greg Laurie

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Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

— Acts 8:35

Every now and again, stories have appeared in the news about people who pose as physicians but actually are not licensed to practice medicine. Their actions can even sometimes prove fatal for the people they are supposed to be “treating.”

In the same way, I believe there are some preachers today who are guilty of spiritual malpractice. They are not accurately presenting the gospel message.

If a presentation of the gospel does not contain the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then it is insufficient. Every effective gospel presentation, whether it is a sermon given from a pulpit or part of a private conversation, needs to ultimately come down to this: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sin. He paid the price for every wrong thing we have ever done. And then He rose again from the dead.

That is the essence of the gospel. That is the message we need to bring to people.

If you want to be effective in sharing your faith, your message also should be centered on Scripture. That is why the Bible says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

When we commit Scripture to memory, when we know the Word of God, we have a well to draw from when someone asks us a question. And as we prepare to respond, we pray that the Holy Spirit will bring the right passages to mind.

When Philip shared the gospel with the man from Ethiopia, Acts 8:35 tells us that “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.” Philip knew Scripture. And he was able to present the gospel accurately.

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Getting to Know Christ Intimately – Charles Stanley

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Philippians 3:12-21

No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, it’s never too late to begin pursuing a deeper relationship with Him. Whether you’re already passionate about Jesus or know Him only on a surface level, everyone is welcome to join Paul and “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). To get started, follow these six steps:

Study Scripture. No one can know God apart from His Word since He speaks to us through it, revealing who He is and what He does.

Be willing to spend time alone with the Lord in prayer, meditation, and worship. One of the biggest reasons Christians don’t have a close relationship with Jesus is that they’re unwilling to invest the time needed to get to know Him intimately.

Trust the Lord. The depth of any relationship depends on the level of trust.

Obey Him. As we take each step of obedience, God reveals more of Himself.

Observe how Christ works in your life. By paying attention to how the Lord operates, you’ll become familiar with His ways and goals.

Make Jesus your top priority. Be willing to lay aside anything that competes with your loyalty and devotion to Him.

Knowing Christ intimately is an attainable goal. The key is persistence, so forget past failures and press on. Find an example to follow. My grandfather’s relationship with Jesus was the inspiration for my journey of intimacy with Christ. I knew if he had that kind of relationship with Jesus, so could I.

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Into the World as We Know It – Ravi Zacharias

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Garrison Keillor’s description of Aunt Marie is one I have not been able to shake this season. Repeatedly, she has come to mind in discordant moments of Christmas preparation, somewhere between errands at the mall and lyrics that put a stop to them. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining,/ Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.” No description of the Incarnation more readily makes the common stressors of Christmas seem less important. And yet, Aunt Marie, with her “fat little legs” and “her heavy, fur-collared coat,” has made a serious attempt to wrestle me back down to a sad, human, earthly reality. Keillor writes:

“She knew that death was only a door to the kingdom where Jesus would welcome her, there would be no crying there, no suffering, but meanwhile she was fat, her heart hurt, and she lived alone with her ill-tempered little dogs, tottering around her dark little house full of Chinese figurines and old Sunday Tribunes. She complained about nobody loving her or wanting her or inviting her to their house for dinner anymore. She sat eating pork roast, mashed potato, creamed asparagus, one Sunday at our house when she said it. We were talking about a trip to the North Shore and suddenly she broke into tears and cried, ‘You don’t care about me. You say you do but you don’t. If I died tomorrow, I don’t know as you’d even go to my funeral.’ I was six. I said, cheerfully, ‘I’d come to your funeral,’ looking at my fat aunt, her blue dress, her string of pearls, her red rouge, the powder on her nose, her mouth full of pork roast, her eyes full of tears.”(1)

Christmas has reminded us what many of us already know: that the world is waiting, groaning for more, longing for redemption, for peace on earth and goodwill to humanity, for release from darkness and sin and loneliness and disillusionment, for God to come near to the world as we know it. Like Aunt Marie, this waiting is sometimes fraught with discomfort; we wait, and we sense a lonely, earthly reality. But Advent forces the experience of waiting into a different light. Our waiting need not be dehumanizing, dispiriting, as waiting often feels.

The New Testament describes it quite differently—not as a difficult means to a better end, but as part of the promise itself. Eugene Peterson writes, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”(2) Waiting itself is, of course, a reminder that we are earthbound.

But so is Christ.

The Christian’s celebration of Christmas is the assurance that we wait with good reason. “The word became flesh,” wrote John, “and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God did not merely come near, he became flesh that could touch weaknesses, experience loneliness, and encounter the lowest moments of being human. He came to be with us, to move through us, to work within us. He came as small and vulnerable as humans come, getting close enough to bear the scars of our outrage and near enough to prove he would stay regardless. He came far nearer than Aunt Marie—or most of us—are yet able to recognize. “That is what incarnation means,” writes Frederick Buechner. “It is untheological. It is unsophisticated. It is undignified. But according to Christianity, it is the way things are. All religions and philosophies that deny the reality or the significance of the material, the fleshly, the earthbound, are themselves denied.”(3)

God became one of us, not to erase every shadow or to undo the difficulties of humanity, but to be with us in the midst of it, to transform our spectrum of darkness by bearing a truer depth of light, and to enlarge us with the joy of expectancy until the fullness of time when every hope has come to pass.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home (New York: Viking, 1987), xxi-xxii.

(2) Eugene Peterson, The Message, Romans 8:24-25.

(3) Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 169.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,

if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” / John 7:37

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the

feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads

with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering

of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our

provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders

that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only

the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to

be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you

by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love

which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to

his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to

quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his

understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the

person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth

as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus

can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other

distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice,

ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The

thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of

inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is

not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus

sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to

works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self

bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising

Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and

drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a

reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can

drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe

in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the

water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff

the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of

divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus

is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as he

cries to each of us,

 

“IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME AND DRINK.”

 

Evening “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” / Jeremiah

8:20

Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment

to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You

know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the

pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and

therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall

judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing

upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing

have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these

hopeful seasons have come and gone–your summer and your harvest have

past–and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into

eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is

going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you–will you ever be saved? Is

there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you

unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with

you–the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection–what

more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to

impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren

heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not

more than likely that you will abide as you are till death forever bars the

door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable

one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy

to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is

logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find

no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is,

and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!

Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write

out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing

of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of

the Lord, and from the glory of his power. A brother’s voice would fain

startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year

begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate

these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it

will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of

all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit.

Let not the new year’s midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, now,

NOW believe, and live.

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Our Sympathetic High Priest – John MacArthur

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“Assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:16-18).

In his letters to Timothy, Paul counseled and encouraged his young associate about many things–his health, his critics, his moral and spiritual warfare. His counsel is well summed up in these words: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David” (2 Tim. 2:8).

Like Timothy, we need to be reminded of Christ’s humanity, especially when life becomes particularly tough. Then we can pray, “Lord, You know what You endured while You were here. I’m going through it now.” We can be sure He knows and will encourage us.

Jesus came not only to save us but also to sympathize with us. He experienced what we experience so He could be a “merciful and faithful high priest.” After all, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Jesus felt everything we will ever feel–and more. Most of us will never know the full degree of any given temptation because we usually succumb long before we reach it. But since Jesus never sinned, He took the full measure of every temptation.

Ours is not a cosmic God, powerful and holy, but indifferent. He knows when we hurt, where we are weak, and how we are tempted. Jesus is not just our Savior, but our loving Lord who sympathizes with us. Rejoice in the greatness of His love for us.

Suggestion for Prayer:  Ask God to remind you of your need of Him at all times, not just when times are tough.

For Future Study:  Memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13 for quick recall whenever you are faced with any trial.

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Build a Bridge – Greg Laurie

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So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.—Acts 26:30–31

When Philip shared the gospel with the Ethiopian dignitary, he demonstrated something that is often lacking in evangelism, and that is tact. Many Christians just fire away with everything they have. They don’t engage the people they speak with. They don’t establish a dialogue. They don’t build a bridge. They just present all their arguments and all of their statements, and they feel so impressed with themselves. Meanwhile, people are looking forward to their shutting up and going away.

Later, the Christian thinks, Boy, I really blew them out of the water when they said this and that. Wasn’t that great? No, it wasn’t great. In reality, it was quite stupid, because our job is not to win the argument; it’s to win the soul.

If we want to effectively share the gospel with people, then we need to engage them. What did the master evangelist Jesus do as He talked with the woman at the well in Samaria? He engaged her in conversation. It was give-and-take. He spoke . . . He listened. She shared her heart with Him . . . He revealed truth to her.

When we share the gospel with people, it is a dialogue—not a monologue. It is not just talking; it is also listening. It is offering the appropriate passages from Scripture and statements from a heart filled with love so that person can come to believe in Jesus Christ.

No one ever will be argued into the kingdom of God. They are going to believe because the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin. Our job is to simply bring them the essential gospel message.

When the apostle Paul addressed the Greeks on Mars Hill, he took stock of the situation and presented his message accordingly. He used tact—and so should we.

Scriptures, Lessons, News and Links to help you survive.