Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!—2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
This time of year is perfect for letting go of past mistakes and regrets. Trust God’s grace and forgiveness, and look forward to the fresh start He offers you. Embrace the opportunity to grow closer to Him and to follow His guidance in your life.
Lord, help me let go of the past and embrace a fresh start.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ––John 8:44
If you’ve ever been ripped off by a dishonest auto mechanic, you know how frustrating and infuriating it can be. $300 for a new “Johnson rod,” only to find out much later that there is no such thing? Yeah, it’s the worst. Satan is a crooked mechanic, always looking to pop the hood of our spiritual lives and mess around. We have titles for the tinkering of Satan and the malfunctions he causes:
Materialism: One who has bad relationships because they worship inanimate objects without souls or emotions. My Mercedes and my money can’t give me a hug, laugh, cry, or be hurt by stupidity. Things are safe to love because they require no character, but unsafe for your soul because they are soulless.
Hedonism: One who has bad relationships because they pimp people, seeing them ultimately as objects of—or a means of—achieving self-gratification. No one I have ever known enjoys being prostituted for someone else’s high. Hedonists love “feelings” or physical sensations or risky behaviors.
Narcissism: One who thinks life’s all about them. They are the god of their life: relational narcissism is an oxymoron. All of their relationships are meant to reflect back on them in a positive way. You can’t be addicted to yourself, your appearance, your titles, and your control over others, and genuinely serve someone else’s needs.
Satan will dress up these rip-offs in powerful ways; he pops the hood and suggests things we don’t need that will give him the profit. He suggests and we buy it. Same ol’ story … remember Eve? Everything we buy begins with thoughts that are suggested under our hoods. Our mind is a wonderful thing when it is properly cared for by the right mechanic.
By the way, I got a guy. Everybody’s got a guy. My guy is the perfect Mechanic because He built my engine.
Father, thank You for the thoughts You provide for me to buy.
Do not kill them . . . . Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink. 2 Kings 6:22
Today’s Scripture
Today’s Insights
Author Ray Stedman draws an intriguing comparison between the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Elijah first appears in 1 Kings 17. He displays God’s power and judgment, calling down fire from heaven as he faced 450 prophets of the false god Baal (18:30-39). Then in 2 Kings 1:9-12 he did it again, killing the soldiers sent by evil King Ahaziah to arrest him. Then Elisha “took the mantle” (2 Kings 2:14 nkjv), or role, of Elijah. He had a powerful yet less fiery ministry than did Elijah. Stedman notes that Jesus’ ascension into heaven after His resurrection (Acts 1:8-9) was foreshadowed by Elijah, who ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11-12). Similarly, he also points out that Elisha foreshadows the ministry of the Holy Spirit—the Helper Jesus promised to send us after He returned to His Father. Again and again, we see the Scriptures pointing to Christ.
Today’s Devotional
In the novel About Grace, David Winkler longs to find his estranged daughter, and Herman Sheeler is the only person who can help him. But there’s a hitch. David’s daughter was born from David’s affair with Herman’s wife, and Herman had warned him never to contact them again.
Decades pass before David writes to Herman, apologizing for what he’s done. “I have a hole in my life because I know so little about my daughter,” he adds, begging for information about her. He waits to see if Herman will help him.
How should we treat those who’ve wronged us? The king of Israel faced this question after his enemies were miraculously delivered into his hands (2 Kings 6:8-20). “Shall I kill them?” he asks the prophet Elisha. No, Elisha says. “Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master” (vv. 21-22). Through this act of grace, Israel finds peace with its enemies (v. 23).
Herman replies to David’s letter, invites him to his home and cooks him a meal. “Lord Jesus,” he prays before they eat, “thank You for watching over me and David all these years.” He helps David find his daughter, and David later saves his life. In God’s hands, our acts of grace toward those who’ve wronged us often result in a blessing to us.
Reflect & Pray
Whose acts of grace have inspired you in the past? What act of grace could you offer someone today?
Dear Jesus, please give me the wisdom and power today to offer grace to those who’ve wronged me.
But God will redeem me…for He will receive me. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
Psalm 49:15 (AMPC)
When offenses come and we are tempted to get into strife, it is wise for us to examine our thoughts and take ownership of our actions.
If you find that you are justifying having a bad attitude, I encourage you to realize that justifying any bad behavior that the Word of God condemns is a dangerous thing. It keeps us deceived and unable to take ownership of our faults.
Nobody enjoys saying, “I was wrong—please forgive me,” but it is one of the most powerful six-word sentences in the world. It brings peace to turmoil; joy replaces frustration, and this attitude puts a smile on God’s face. He is delighted when we follow His ways instead of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Prayer of the Day: Father, help me see myself as You see me. Renew my mind to reflect my true identity in Christ and embrace the life You have planned for me, amen.
“If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you.”
Denzel Washington has made fifty movies and won two Oscars, but he wrote recently in Esquire, “The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit,” an experience that occurred forty years ago.
Last Saturday, he received his minister’s license and was baptized. In a video he shared online, he said, “It took a while, but I’m finally here . . . If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you.”
Washington is right in ways we cannot begin to imagine.
Literally.
“If your mind were only a slightly greener thing”
One of my sons gave me The Overstory by Richard Powers as a Christmas present. As soon as I began reading, I understood why it won the Pulitzer Prize and was a #1 New York Times bestseller.
The novel is creatively centered around trees and those who experience them. It begins with a woman in a park leaning against a pine. The tree and those farther away say to her:
All the ways you imagine us—bewitched mangroves up on stilts, a nutmeg’s inverted spade, gnarled baja elephant trunks, the straight-up missile of a sal—are always amputations. Your kind never sees us whole. There’s always as much belowground as above.
That’s the trouble with people, their root problem. . . . A chorus of living wood sings to the woman: If your mind were only a slightly greener thing, we’d drown you in meaning (his italics).
As I read, I made a note: “What is true of roots below is also true of heaven above. What we cannot see is what makes possible what we can see. There is far more that we do not know than what we do. What we do not know changes our lives the most.”
Here’s why.
Why Jesus had to come at Christmas
The Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), that he is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), and that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8; cf. Malachi 3:6). Each aspect of his character requires the other: If God is love, he must always do what holiness requires. If he is holy, he must always do what love requires. And he cannot change—he must always do the most loving and righteous thing in our lives.
This is why Jesus had to come at Christmas. He had to come to save us in love while atoning for our sin in holiness, revealing his unchanging nature by taking on our nature while preserving his own.
But this was also true for millennia before Christmas. From Joseph saving his people from starvation, to Moses liberating them from slavery, to Joshua leading them into their Promised Land, to David defeating their enemies, to the prophets declaring his pathways to flourishing— God was unchangingly loving and holy.
It has been true for millennia after Christmas. From Cornelius opening the way for Gentile conversion to Paul taking the gospel across the Empire, to writers giving us the New Testament, and to parents, pastors, evangelists, theologians, political leaders, soldiers, doctors, attorneys, engineers, business people, teachers, and a plethora of others—God continues to act in and through us in ways that are unchangingly loving and holy.
And what is true on earth is true in heaven as well.
Why “we are more than conquerors”
In Paul’s soaring revelation we read, “Jesus Christ is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34; cf. Hebrews 7:25). The apostle can therefore ask rhetorically, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35) and proceed to list the worst enemies we face before assuring us, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (v. 37).
All this because Jesus is “interceding for us” right now, continuing the Christmas miracle as he incarnates his unchanging holy love in and through us.
Do you believe the Father always answers his Son’s prayers? One day we will fully know what today we can only “know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:12). On that day, I believe we will see the thousands of ways the Father acted in our lives because the Son prayed for us.
In the meantime, the familiar words of Alfred Lord Tennyson take on new meaning for us:
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
What would you like to ask Jesus to pray for, for you?
Friday news to know:
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the day:
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” —Robert Murray McCheyne
“I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis 17:1)
Abraham had been “walking” in the land of Canaan nearly 25 years when God gave this command to him. He had experienced the shameful rebuke in Egypt by Pharaoh and a marvelous victory against Chedorlaomer. He then demonstrated both humility and obedience before Melchizedek.
God had been explicit in His promises to Abraham, but the promised heir had not yet come. Now, in spite of the awful lapse of faith with Hagar and the nagging burden of Ishmael, God insisted that Abraham “walk before” Him and “be perfect.”
The Hebrew language here is unusual. The word translated “before me” is panyim, basically meaning “the face.” This is the term used in the first commandment where we are told to “have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
In Genesis 17:1, the phrase could well be translated “walk, looking at my face.” The first commandment could also be translated “don’t let any other god get between your face and my face.”
The implication is obvious. God expects us to live in such a way that His “face” (person, character, presence) is always “before” us so that our “walk” (lifestyle, behavior) is “perfect” (complete, whole, healthy), with nothing inhibiting the relationship “of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).
“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9). After warning Israel of the dangers of the pagan nations surrounding them, Moses still insisted that they should “be perfect with the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13). No matter what the circumstances may be, if we are looking at God’s “face,” we will walk perfectly. HMM III
https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord… — Jeremiah 4:1
The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before Him. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there. If I say, “I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,” I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between my self and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God’s decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.
In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God — “My Utmost for His Highest.”
Wisdom from Oswald
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
—Psalm 29:11
How do we find peace with God? We must stop fighting! We must surrender! We must serve! Of course, these steps will be motivated by faith and mingled with love. Having found peace with God, next we experience the peace of God.
This peace of God is not a mere abstraction advocated by preachers and theologians. Thousands of people can witness that they have actually experienced the peace of God and have found it wonderfully adequate for this present day. “For He is our peace.”
You can have peace with God today.
Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.
Prayer for the day
Father, I thank You for the peace You have given to me, which does not depend on feelings or circumstances.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.—Psalm 19:1 (NIV)
Even in the midst of winter, when the weather outside might seem harsh, spending a few moments outdoors can be invigorating and inspiring. By taking the time to breathe in the crisp air and observe the wonders of creation, we can connect with God’s presence and find refreshing newness in our lives.
Dear God, thank You for the beauty of Your creation and the opportunity to experience it daily.
Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ––Genesis 19:24-26
When I was a kid I had a set of those Bible story books with the blue covers written by Arthur S. Maxwell. I loved those books for their awesome illustrations. But one story that always freaked me out was the one about Lot’s wife. If you will recall, God condemns the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction for their wickedness. Lot escapes with his wife and two daughters, and is instructed by two angels not to look back as they flee. Lot’s wife can’t resist the urge to take a peek, and is instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
It’s a cautionary tale that Jesus references two millennia later when he teaches His disciples about the kingdom to come. Luke 17:31-33 says,
On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.
“On that day” refers to the Second Coming of Jesus, and how no one knows when it will take place. He references Lot’s wife as a cautionary tale: Don’t be fixated on the things of this world, but prepare your heart and spirit for His return.
For God’s man, this means living our lives as if Jesus were returning today. Confessing our sins to one another, keeping short accounts in our relationships, and living each day in the power—and under the guidance—of the Holy Spirit. It means holding on lightly to the material things of this world, and always prioritizing His kingdom over our earthly pursuits and preoccupations.
Lot’s wife looked backward—as did many of the Israelites in the desert, who looked back and missed the leaks and onions of Egypt—and suffered for it. Brother, set your sights on the things above—and be ready for His return.
Lord, it’s tempting to look back at the “good times” in my life, but You’ve called me to a higher purpose. Help me set my sites on the things that are precious to You.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24
Today’s Insights
The words priest/high priest occur nearly forty times in the book of Hebrews. The priestly ministry of Jesus comes into view in the earliest verses of the book: “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3). Accolades for Jesus as high priest include words like “merciful and faithful” (2:17) and “great” (4:14; 10:21). The chorus of praise in 7:26 is of note: “Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” What are the implications for believers in Jesus that He occupies this role? The “therefore” and “let us” phrases help us. “Therefore, . . . since we have confidence . . . and since we have a great priest . . . let us draw near to God . . . let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess . . . let us consider how we may spur one another on” (10:19-24).
Today’s Devotional
Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea were celebrated leaders in the fourth-century church and also close friends. They first met as philosophy students, and Gregory later said that they became like “two bodies with a single spirit.”
With their career paths so similar, rivalry could’ve arisen between Gregory and Basil. But Gregory explained that they avoided this temptation by making a life of faith, hope, and good deeds their “single ambition,” then “spurring each other on” to make the other more successful in this goal than themselves individually. As a result, both grew in faith and rose to high levels of leadership without rivalry.
The book of Hebrews is written to help us stay strong in faith (Hebrews 2:1), encouraging us to focus on “the hope we profess” and to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (10:23-24). While this command is given in the context of a congregation (v. 25), by applying it to their friendship, Gregory and Basil showed how friends can encourage each other to grow and avoid any “bitter root,” such as rivalry that might grow between them (12:15).
What if we made faith, hope, and good deeds the ambition of our own friendships, then encouraged our friends to become more successful in this goal than ourselves individually? The Holy Spirit is ready to help us do both.
The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Psalm 146:9 (NIV)
God seems to have a special place in His heart for those who are lonely, and He wants us to be good to them. Psalm 68:6 (NIV) says that He “sets the lonely in families….” If you know someone who has no family, you can include them in some of your family functions. Invite them to your home for Thanksgiving dinner, a Fourth of July celebration, and other such events.
God gave the Israelites commands about how they were to include the foreigners and strangers among them (Deuteronomy 10:19; Leviticus 19:34). And Hebrews 13:2 instructs believers to show hospitality to strangers. We tend to gravitate toward people we know and are comfortable with, but God wants us to reach beyond our comfort zone and think about how it would feel to be alone so we will include the lonely in our lives.
The Lord mentions the fatherless and the widow frequently in Scripture and instructs us to be good to them and to help meet their needs. James writes that religion that is pure and undefiled is about visiting and helping to care for the widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:27).
Choose a widowed person in your church and show special attention to them. You can informally adopt them into your family. If you are going to lunch after church on Sunday, you can include them. There are many ways to minister to the lonely if we will just think about it, and when we do, it will put a smile on God’s face.
Prayer of the Day: Father, help me remember how You feel about those who are lonely, and show me who I can minister to and help alleviate their loneliness. Help me walk in love with everyone and show kindness wherever possible, amen.
The winter solstice and the perfect timing of God
This Wall Street Journal headline caught my eye: “It Pays to Have Long Hair and a Beard in Utah—Jesus Models Are in Demand.” People in the state are employing people who “look like Jesus” for family portraits, Christmas cards, and wedding announcements.
One model was posing for photos when a woman asked if he could walk with her for a moment and hold her hand. “You know I’m not the real Jesus, right?” he asked her. She told him she had been looking for a sign from God when she was driving by.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the child who was afraid to sleep alone on a dark, stormy night. His mother assured him that God was right beside him. The boy replied, “But Mom, I want God with skin on!”
So do we all.
“The same yesterday and today and forever”
To everyone who reads this article, the idea that the child who was born in Bethlehem’s manger is still alive and acting in our world is so commonplace that we assume this is how religion works. But it’s not so.
No Buddhist thinks Buddha is still teaching his followers today. No Muslim thinks the Prophet Muhammad is still alive in our world or that they can experience his presence. No Jew thinks the rabbis of old are still available to offer their wisdom.
But every Christian thinks (or should think) that Jesus is just as alive and active today as he was on that first Christmas night. We believe that we can experience the Baby of Bethlehem as fully today as when he first entered our world.
He promised to be with us always (Matthew 28:20). He spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus and to John on the prison island of Patmos. What Jesus did then, he can and will do today, since he is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Why is this fact so relevant to our lives and current challenges?
My visit to Stonehenge
I will always remember my visit to Stonehenge some years ago. While it was stunning to see in person a site whose construction began more than five millennia ago, it would have been especially memorable to have been there last weekend to mark the winter solstice.
This prehistoric structure frames the rise of the sun on the summer solstice and its setting on the winter solstice. Knowing when the seasons were changing would have been vital for farmers and animal herders, so marking this yearly cycle may be one reason Stonehenge was constructed.
So, what is the winter solstice we just experienced?
The axis of our planet tilts 23.5 degrees. As a result, during Earth’s year-long solar rotation, the northern hemisphere will eventually be at its furthest point from the sun. This occurred Saturday at 4:21 a.m. ET, making December 21 our shortest day and longest night. In six months, our planet will be on the opposite side of our solar rotation, at which time our hemisphere will be closest to the sun, giving us our longest day and shortest night.
If our planet had no tilt, we would have no seasons. Why would this be so catastrophic?
Scientists tell us that on such a planet, the regions further to the north and south would be too cold to be habitable, so humans would have to congregate near the equator. In the tropical regions, however, unrelenting rainfall would erode soil in areas cleared for farming, rendering tilled land infertile for crops. In arid regions, life would be even more difficult to sustain.
Our existence would be threatened by disease pathogens that thrive in warm, humid environments. As it is, winter protects us from what one expert called “a long, nasty list of tropical diseases of humans, crops, and livestock.”
If our planet’s tilt was more or less, our seasons would be drastically changed, disrupting if not preventing life as we know it. And so, our planet’s exact tilt is just one example of the anthropic principle, the fact that our existence depends on very precise parameters. Other examples include our atmosphere, our magnetic field, our location in the solar system, our solar system’s place in the galaxy, and even the color of our sun.
“When the fullness of time had come”
Last Friday we discussed the surprising manner of Jesus’ coming. Today, let’s think about its timing. Here we discover that the anthropic principle applies to Christmas as well.
Jesus came to earth to die for our sins (Romans 5:8). However, since God is not bound by time, Jesus’ death could atone for all of humanity’s sins whenever he died and whenever the sins occurred. Why, then, did he come when he did?
Paul reported, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4). In the era when Jesus was born, Roman roads facilitated the later expansion of the church across the Empire. Greek was so universal that Christian leaders and the New Testament books they produced could be understood by multiplied millions. The Pax Romana ensured a peace that enabled missionaries to spread the faith. A universal hunger for truth and meaning opened the way for the good news of God’s love.
Never before or since were conditions so perfect for a faith to take root and grow to universal significance.
When you’re waiting on God
A God who can make a planet that tilts at just the right angle to support life is a God whose power you can trust with your needs. And a God who can enter the planet he created at just the right time is a God whose timing you can trust as well.
Are you waiting for God to answer your prayers? Does it seem that he is slow to do what you need him to do? Then ask yourself these questions:
If his timing is not yours, it must be the case that his timing is better than yours. We are therefore wise to accept his invitation:
“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
The reason is simple: It is always too soon to give up on God.
Always.
Monday news to know:
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the day:
“We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us.” —Charles Spurgeon
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.
“Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.” (Psalm 69:34)
We may not yet understand the full purpose of God in creation, but at least one aspect of that purpose is that all things created should somehow praise their Creator. This theme occurs often in Scripture, especially in the Psalms. For example, in addition to the exhortation in our text:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1).
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh” (Psalm 96:11-13).
“All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee” (Psalm 145:10).
“Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens….Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word: mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl” (Psalm 148:3-4, 7-10).
The Lord Jesus said that if men should refuse to praise Him and “should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40). Yet even though the whole creation—in its beauty, complexity, and providential orderliness—gives continual praise to its Creator, men perversely have “worshipped and served the creature [or more aptly stated, the creation] more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever” (Romans 1:25).
How poignant, therefore, is the final verse of the book of Psalms: “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 150:6). HMM
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. — Galatians 6:14
The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the Cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self — to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for every thing else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin. Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you; or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death. Immediately you transact in confident faith in what Our Lord did on the Cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place, and you will know with a knowledge that passeth knowledge that your “old man” is crucified with Christ. The proof that your “old man” is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every now and again, Our Lord lets us see what we would be like if it were not for Himself; it is a justification of what He said — “Without Me ye can do nothing.” That is why the bedrock of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the ecstasy of our first introduction into the Kingdom for the purpose of God in getting us there; His purpose in getting us there is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.
Wisdom from Oswald
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
For unto us a child is born . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
—Isaiah 9:6
To Christians the joy of Christmas is not limited to His birth. It is built even more on the triumph of His death and resurrection—that gave meaning to His birth. The mysterious spirit of generosity which possesses us at Christmas is the afterglow of Calvary. The fact of the cross illuminates this day and hallows it. As we exchange our gifts, let us remember that they are symbolic of the unspeakable gift of God’s love.
I do not believe that Christians should be giving expensive gifts to each other. We should quietly give simple little gifts that are expressions of our love and devotion to the recipients. These gifts become symbolic of the gift of God’s love. How much money could be saved and invested in the Kingdom of God by thousands of Christian families every year if the true meaning of Christmas was observed.
Watch a 30-minute TV special: The Cost of Christmas
Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.
Prayer for the day
Loving God, my heavenly Father, in Your gift of Jesus I see Your immeasurable love reaching out to all mankind. How I praise You and adore You!
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.—Colossians 3:23 (NIV)
Take a moment to focus on serving God with a grateful heart. Ask for His guidance on what you can do to help someone. Remember that even the smallest acts of kindness can significantly impact another’s life, and through these acts, you demonstrate your devotion to God.
Dear Lord, often my prayers are centered around my own needs. What can I do for You?
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
––2 Corinthians 2:17
To let Christ glorify Himself through us in a powerful way, we need availability and sincerity. Availability is an easy one. That simply has to do with our willingness to become like Christ!
But alongside our willingness there must be integrity. As Paul points out to his readers, “so many” use God for selfish purposes rather than allowing God to use their lives for His purposes. Somewhere along the line there’s a pollution of purpose. Their identity cannot be used greatly; something is worn in their character. They have not allowed Christ to penetrate fully into the depths of their lives. They are compartmentalizing in their character of “disintegrated” on the inside.
Parts of these men are not totally comfortable with truth and reality, and they serve the Lord with mixed motives and unhealthy character. Behind the mask of their Christianity, they are asking, “What’s in it for me?” They are peddlers, pimping Christ for their own gain. They have lost that accountability and awareness of God’s presence to guide them. You cannot trust them.
Why? They lack spiritual integrity. By contrast, sincere men of God are welcomed to apply. These are the “on the contrary” squad of men wide open to God’s leadership, methods, directions, and decisions over their own. More specifically, they constantly choose those directions and methods that will give Christ the lost glory in their lives.
Simply spoken, Satan is highly adept at making relationship into religion. Religion constitutes keeping score, competitiveness slips in the door and relationship slips out.
It’s our hearts men, it’s our hearts. Keep a tender heart toward the love the Father has for you, and let that be your motivation.
Father, thank You for the peace that passes all understanding.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8
Today’s Scripture
Today’s Insights
We tend to make the phrase “the Word of God” (see Isaiah 40:8) into a synonym for Scripture itself. And it’s true that the Bible is an integral and vital way in which God reveals Himself to us. Ultimately, however, the greater revealer of God is a living and enduring person: Jesus. Isaiah 40:1-11 has a strong messianic message as it describes this eternal Word in whom we trust. This is who Isaiah is pointing to—the Word made flesh as revealed in John 1 (see especially vv. 1, 14). The words of God given to us in the pages of the Bible point to the Word of God (Jesus) spoken of in John 1.
Today’s Devotional
When he was younger, my son Xavier and I read a fictional children’s story about a boy who rebelled against his teacher by referring to a pen by a made-up name. The student convinced his fellow fifth graders to use the new name he created for pens. News about the boy’s replacement word spread through the whole town. Eventually, people across the country changed the way they referred to pens, simply because others accepted one boy’s made-up reality as a universal truth.
Thank you for being a faithful reader of Our Daily Bread devotions. If you would like to help others connect with God’s Word all across the globe, please consider partnering with us this holiday season.
Throughout history, flawed human beings have embraced ever-changing versions of truth or personal preferred realities to suit their desires. However, the Bible points to one truth, the one true God, and one way to salvation—the Messiah—through whom “the glory of the Lord will be revealed” (Isaiah 40:5). The prophet Isaiah affirmed that people, like all created things, are temporal, fallible, and unreliable (vv. 6-7). He said, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (v. 8).
Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah provides a dependable foundation, a safe refuge, and a secured hope. We can trust God’s Word because Jesus Himself is the Word (John 1:1). Jesus is the Truth who never changes.
Reflect & Pray
When have you been tempted to reject what the Bible says simply because others accepted another view as truth? How does knowing Jesus is the Word and the fulfillment of all God’s promises comfort you?
Dear Jesus, please help me live in a way that shows I believe the Bible is the truth that never changes.
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 15:5 (NIV)
God promised Abram (later Abraham) a son. Not only that, but He promised him descendants so numerous that they would be like the stars in the sky. The problem was that Abram and his wife, Sarai (later Sarah), were way too old to have natural children. As advanced in years as they were, we might think God’s promise needed to come to pass quickly. But it didn’t. Abram and Sarai had to wait 25 years for His promise to manifest in their lives.
We often have to wait for certain things God has promised to come to pass, just as Abram and Sarai did. Sometimes He may need to teach us or prepare us for the blessings He wants to release in our lives. Or it could be that we need additional spiritual growth, greater emotional stability, or a new mindset before we can handle them properly. While we wait, we may be tempted to feel impatient. We may doubt or feel frustrated because nothing seems to be happening.
During these seasons of waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled, we need to tell our emotions to calm down and wait patiently for Him to act on our behalf. Our emotions can help us wait peacefully, with joy and expectation, or they can keep us anxious and impatient.
God is always working for our good, even when we don’t see it. We need to trust His timing and wisdom, knowing He will fulfill His promises at the time that is best for us.
Prayer of the Day: Thank You, God, for the promises You’ve made to me. I trust You to fulfill them when the time is right. Help me to wait patiently and not let my emotions lead me into frustration.
DAILY DEVOTIONS, NEWS AND INFORMATION 