Today is the 30th, and tomorrow I will stop with the Christmas devotionals (I think). I do not know where I am going to study next, but I would like to continue passing on what I am learning, with occasional devotional posts on this blogspot. I know probably only a few on my list read these long-winded devotionals, but I guess you are the ones meant to read it, and I hope you have gained something from it. I know I have learned so much this month that I didn’t know before about the Christmas story that had become a bit passé for me. And I feel like I have only scratched the surface.
So, we continue with the last couple of days of our story. Yesterday, after encountering Herod, the wise men had found Jesus in Bethlehem in a house with his mother. They had followed the star there, then worshipped him, opened their treasure chests and presented him with precious and costly gifts.
12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
God is still actively speaking to the characters of this story, even the pagans, this time in another dream. He warned them not to return to Herod. Then, he spoke to Joseph in a dream. These men had sought Jesus to worship him and to bring him gifts. Now Herod was searching for Jesus himself, but for a totally different reason – to murder him.
13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
So, two more dreams occur, both warning dreams. One for the wise men not to return to Herod, and the other for Joseph to quickly get up and run with his family to Egypt. As tricky and deceitful and sly as Herod had tried to be, God knew exactly what Herod had in mind – to kill Jesus. To find exactly where he was and put to death anything or anyone that would oppose his throne. Satan has tried throughout history to silence our salvation. (A whole other Bible study!) He had the baby boys killed when Moses was born, but Moses escaped. He has always tried to stop the seed of righteousness, now putting in Herod’s heart to kill Jesus. But God was already a step ahead of Herod and had warned both the wise men and Joseph. This gave Joseph time to flee with his family to Egypt. (The Egypt thing, again, is a whole other Bible study!) Odd that he should be sent to a land that is a picture of slavery, bondage, oppression, and sin. But also how very appropriate, as Jesus was born into a world just like Egypt, with us all in bondage and slavery to sin. Yet he appeared right in the midst of it all, to lead us out of it. He came right where we were to bring us out.
16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead.”
Can you imagine the scene that day when the soldiers charged into Bethlehem and went from house to house brutally murdering every young toddler and baby boy while their mothers screamed in horror? I don’t even want to dwell on the horror of what that day would have been like. I would imagine some of the mothers also lost their lives that day trying to save their children. I know I would have. Can you imagine the aftermath in that town, the wounds that would never heal in the hearts of the parents of this town in this story that is recorded for all of us to always remember? So, friends, ALWAYS keep in the front of your mind this fact: that Satan is ruthless. He doesn’t care who he kills, steals from or destroys, no matter their age or their innocence. He doesn’t care if it is you, your child, your finances, your health. His goal is to destroy using any means possible. And although it is true that we cannot blame everything in this world that happens on Satan, it is imperative that we are pure in heart and following the Lord closely, so that we can hear him when he speaks, whether it is through a dream, a word from a Christian brother or sister, a scripture that jumps off the page at us, or a deep knowledge that God is speaking to you. Why? So that we will be under his watchful protection. Then, when he tells us to watch out in a certain area of our lives, we can avoid the destruction that the devil surely wants to bring, by taking the precautions that the Lord provides for us and for our safety.
I have a stupid, almost comical, example of this. This morning, I was reading the last couple of chapters in Isaiah and God seemed to be talking to me rather strongly about those who turn away to do their own thing and rebel right in the sight of the Lord. And I began to think, “God is there something I am doing that is sinful because I couldn’t think of anything at the moment?” OK, here is where it gets funny. Perry and I have this energy/vitamin drink called “Spark” that we order from a health supplement company. It has tons of vitamins and amino acids and also some caffeine in it. I have drunk (drank?) it for years now, and something in it it really helps me with my chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. I do not want to go a day without it. Coffee just won’t do what Spark does. I always tell him a few days ahead of time that we are running out because, my friends, I am strongly and gravely concerned when the Spark gets low in the house! There are a few things in life that gravely concern and disturb me: When they run out of tuna at Subway, when they do not offer pecan pancakes on the menu at Cracker Barrel, when they run out of soy milk for my latte at Starbucks, and when we run out of Spark in the house! On occasion, Perry (who is in charge of ordering the Spark), has not ordered it in quite enough time for it to get here, or Fed Ex did not have it to us in time, and there was an occasion I went 5 days without it!! Not good.
So this time, I thought ahead and I put a couple of scoops of Spark powder in a little baggie and hid it in the cupboard behind the coffee cups. (Sounds like I’m stashing cocaine doesn’t it?) I thought, if it doesn’t get here in time, I’m covered, and Perry can fend for himself because he doesn’t need it like I do.
So, I get up yesterday, and in the container there is only one scoop of Spark left and I enjoy the last presumed precious glass of liquid gold we know as "Spark" before it arrives via Fed Ex, (hopefully the next day). As I did, Perry comes in from training and tells me he noticed there was only one serving left, so he made coffee and let me have the last of it instead of drinking it himself. And I told him how sweet he was as I sipped and savored my Spark and how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness. And I really truly did. He gave his Spark to me sacrificially. And that is where it all began.
So, the next morning, when I sat down with that secret hidden delicious scoop of Spark that no one but myself knew about, and began to be “spiritual” and started reading Isaiah, God convicted me!!! I know, that seems crazy and trite, but he did! And here is the thing – it wasn’t really about the Spark. It wasn’t wrong to be sitting there drinking Spark like I do every morning when I study my Bible. What was wrong is that Perry and I are a team, we are one in the sight of God, and anything I keep from him, hiding it for my own use and my own pleasure, and not sharing with him, is a wedge that is put in our relationship. A form of dishonesty and self-preservation. I know at this point some of you are saying that is utterly ridiculous and a far stretch, but, Hey, I’m just telling you what God convicted me of today. He said everything starts with a small little grain, seemingly insignificant, and it doesn’t even cross our mind that there is a problem with the action. Then it takes root and becomes a way of behaving, and grows more, and before long it is a huge thorny bush. So, God checked me on hiding the Spark! He said if I could hide that from Perry without thinking twice about it, what is the next thing I would hide from him, and the next thing after that? Of course, then, as soon as Perry walked in, I told him I had hidden some Spark and there was one scoop left and that he could have it. And I sat reading my Bible, feeling scolded like a little kid. But God reminded me that there is no condemnation for us who are in Jesus (Romans), and by the time I got up from the couch I actually was thankful and appreciative that he pointed out something so small to me. He caught it right at the start, he exposed a dark area in me that I honestly didn’t even think about when I hid that Spark. And he showed me how easy it is to slowly get caught up in a stronghold that you didn’t even see coming.
That is how Satan works though. Like Herod, he is very subtle, always planning, always scheming, always cleverly presenting himself as an ally. And if we are not in tune to the Lord, we WILL fall for his schemes because we have gone out from under the protection of God.
Now, I know I have totally chased a rabbit trail away from wise men and Jesus and Herod, but I don’t know, it just came to me today and I thought I’d share that random thing with you. About remaining under God’s protection, about listening to him even in the small seemingly insignificant things.
As the first chapter of Jesus’ life story comes to a close, Joseph took his family to safety. He continued to hear the Lord, because he was later instructed in a dream to return to Israel, specifically back to Nazareth, where he would spend his childhood years alongside Joseph and Mary, and eventually his brothers and sisters, Mary and Joseph’s children.
So, in looking back over this month, I see past the outer layer of this story much deeper now than I did before this month started. I see people, just like us, chosen by God for a purpose. I see angels coming from God’s throne, dreams being dreamed, doubts and fears being raised, time being spent alone in silence, time away with the Lord, putting his desires ahead of our own reputation, allowing him to plant things in us that he desires to birth, choosing to join him in what he is doing even when it changes the plans we had for our lives, and of course, bringing a truly human tiny baby, yet wholly God, into the middle of our darkness to bring us light. I see that when people allow God full access to their lives, that he will do miraculous things, and that nothing, not kings or Satan himself, can stop his plan. God will always accomplish what he sets out to do.
As you enter this New Year within a few hours, I will leave you with these verses to carry into 2010 with you.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days, when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land.”
God has a plan for you this year, a purpose, and you can be sure it involves knowing him, listening to him, spending time with him, and learning from him. You can also be sure it involves you touching other people with his love. The question is, will that be the resolution that matters to you the most this year?
I hope it is, for you and for me both.
Love in Christ,
Teresa (prayerfully expecting a shipment of Spark today)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Day 23, The Christmas Story - Treasure Chests
We talked about truth from the mouth of unbelievers (the wise men), and arrogance within the body of Christ (the Jews). Today, we pick up after Herod had talked to the wise men and gotten all the information out of them that he could, then requested that when they find Jesus, they inform him of where he is. I followed tradition by saying there were “three” wise men (assumed because of the three gifts), but the Bible actually never states how many there were, the exact place they were from, or their names. So if you ever hear mention of these things, they are tradition, but not found in the Bible.
9 After this interview (with Herod) the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!
So, the star was still there (long after the day of Jesus birth), and my tree is still up, so that is confirmation I can continue with this story.
I found a little background on the wise men that I find interesting and want to pass along to you. The word Magi is a Latin form of the plural of the Greek word magos (μαγος pl. μαγοι), itself from Old Persian maguŝ. The term is a specific occupational title referring to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time a highly regarded science. Their religious practices and use of astrological sciences caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic. Translated in the King James Version as wise men, the same word is given as sorcerer and sorcery when describing "Elymas the sorcerer" in Acts 13:6-11, and Simon Magus, considered a heretic by the early Church, in Acts 8:9-13. Also, I find it interesting that the practice is condemned in the Bible, yet God brought these astrologers/sorcerers to see his son. And that they came to worship him and give him gifts!
After their meeting with Herod, the astrologers continued on to Bethlehem, with the star still leading their way, and then the star stopped over the place where Jesus was. The men were filled with joy, having now arrived at the home of this new baby king. And they were going to see him after all their months of studying and traveling. They entered a house and found Mary and Jesus there. Jesus could have been up to 2 years old when he was found by the Magi. Mary and Joseph were still in Bethlehem, for however long it was, and had not returned to Nazareth. When the men found him, it says they bowed down and worshipped him. These pagan men recognized that this baby was the rightful king of the Jews. They traveled countless days and nights, and forsook everything to come to find him. Eventually “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord”.
11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The astrologers brought with them treasure chests containing gifts for the baby. The three gifts they brought are significant. I’m not sure if they even realized that or not, but I believe in part they did. The gold signifies Jesus’ position as King. Frankincense is an incense that was burned by the priests in the temple, and signifies Jesus’ position as our High Priest. Myrrh was an ointment used medicinally for healing, and also was an embalming ointment used to anoint one’s body at death, a gift that would point to his sacrifice of death for us one day. I wonder if Mary kept that ointment all those years, and if that ointment was used on Jesus when he was taken down off the cross.
But what is significant is that they sought him, traveled to find him, inquired about him, searched diligently, and prepared a chest full of gifts for him, to be opened before him when they bowed and worshiped him.
What is our treasure chest? Our heart, of course. The Bible says wherever our treasure is, there our heart is also. When we truly see Jesus as our King, our Priest, and our Savior, the only response can be worship and giving ourselves, opening our chest and giving him our heart. Giving him all of us, our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our time, our talents, our finances, our very being.
I pray that today you will search your heart and think about the treasure you have hidden there. Then ask yourself, is this a treasure that I am not willing to give up for the one who gave up life for me? What is it that I hoard as more important than the ultimate treasure of Jesus himself? Do I recognize who he really is and have I come to the place I am willing to open up my treasure chest and give him the only gift I can give him – my life?
Teresa
9 After this interview (with Herod) the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!
So, the star was still there (long after the day of Jesus birth), and my tree is still up, so that is confirmation I can continue with this story.
I found a little background on the wise men that I find interesting and want to pass along to you. The word Magi is a Latin form of the plural of the Greek word magos (μαγος pl. μαγοι), itself from Old Persian maguŝ. The term is a specific occupational title referring to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time a highly regarded science. Their religious practices and use of astrological sciences caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic. Translated in the King James Version as wise men, the same word is given as sorcerer and sorcery when describing "Elymas the sorcerer" in Acts 13:6-11, and Simon Magus, considered a heretic by the early Church, in Acts 8:9-13. Also, I find it interesting that the practice is condemned in the Bible, yet God brought these astrologers/sorcerers to see his son. And that they came to worship him and give him gifts!
After their meeting with Herod, the astrologers continued on to Bethlehem, with the star still leading their way, and then the star stopped over the place where Jesus was. The men were filled with joy, having now arrived at the home of this new baby king. And they were going to see him after all their months of studying and traveling. They entered a house and found Mary and Jesus there. Jesus could have been up to 2 years old when he was found by the Magi. Mary and Joseph were still in Bethlehem, for however long it was, and had not returned to Nazareth. When the men found him, it says they bowed down and worshipped him. These pagan men recognized that this baby was the rightful king of the Jews. They traveled countless days and nights, and forsook everything to come to find him. Eventually “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord”.
11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The astrologers brought with them treasure chests containing gifts for the baby. The three gifts they brought are significant. I’m not sure if they even realized that or not, but I believe in part they did. The gold signifies Jesus’ position as King. Frankincense is an incense that was burned by the priests in the temple, and signifies Jesus’ position as our High Priest. Myrrh was an ointment used medicinally for healing, and also was an embalming ointment used to anoint one’s body at death, a gift that would point to his sacrifice of death for us one day. I wonder if Mary kept that ointment all those years, and if that ointment was used on Jesus when he was taken down off the cross.
But what is significant is that they sought him, traveled to find him, inquired about him, searched diligently, and prepared a chest full of gifts for him, to be opened before him when they bowed and worshiped him.
What is our treasure chest? Our heart, of course. The Bible says wherever our treasure is, there our heart is also. When we truly see Jesus as our King, our Priest, and our Savior, the only response can be worship and giving ourselves, opening our chest and giving him our heart. Giving him all of us, our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our time, our talents, our finances, our very being.
I pray that today you will search your heart and think about the treasure you have hidden there. Then ask yourself, is this a treasure that I am not willing to give up for the one who gave up life for me? What is it that I hoard as more important than the ultimate treasure of Jesus himself? Do I recognize who he really is and have I come to the place I am willing to open up my treasure chest and give him the only gift I can give him – my life?
Teresa
Monday, December 28, 2009
day 22, Christmas from a Toddler's Perspective
Good Monday morning. Whew! The rush is over, the paper cleaned up, and some of you ambitious people have your tree down already! I am one of the keep it up until New Year's people. So, since the tree is still up, that means I can still talk about the Christmas Story, right?! I was going to talk about the wise men further today, but instead, I’ve decided to talk about the truth I have found in a child's Christmas.
Shaelin is my granddaughter, now 3½ years old, and does not stop running (or talking) from the minute she wakes up until she goes to sleep at night. She is very well spoken and intelligent and focused, and of course, beautiful, with huge bright blue eyes, and more spunk than you would think such a small package could hold! (Of course, I’m not at all prejudiced!) She and my daughter lived with us for a while after she was born and I am especially close to her.
Anyway, I’ve observed her this season and also last Christmas, and I’ve learned so much by watching her, as I always do. Because of her innocence, she takes things at face value. She is a joy to spend time with and she loves to come play at Tisi’s house (that’s me). She lives in pure honesty. She hasn’t learned the trait of covering up, hiding, lying.
I have a nativity set I’ve had since my children were little. It is unbreakable and I’ve always allowed them to play with it. So last Christmas was the first year that a new generation has played with it. Shaelin went straight to it almost every time she came to the house. Over the years, I’ve added a few pieces, the last one being the “inn”. There is an innkeeper outside with his hand pointing people on down the street. The door opens and there is a light on in the inn.
When Shaelin first pulled her stool up to the table to stand and play with the nativity, she was drawn to the baby. I told her his name was Jesus and she picked him up and in her little girl inborn nurturing ways says, “Oh, baby Jesus” and held him close to her. Then she took him in one hand and with the other went “tickle, tickle, tickle”. Then she informed me he needed his diaper changed. To her, he was a baby, just like every other human baby, and she treated him as such. It bothered her that he was outside in the stable, and every time she left the house, I would always find baby Jesus just inside the door of the inn. She knew he needed a place, and that he did not belong outside.
Then on Christmas night last year, all the kids and Perry went to see Benjamin Button, and Shaelin and I stayed home and played. She sat in my lap and we were drawing pictures on a doodle board she got for Christmas. I drew a rough picture of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and sang “Away in a Manger” to her. Then I said, “Christmas is Jesus’ birthday”. And we sang Happy Birthday Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to You. And I love what happened next. She walked over to the nativity and got Jesus and brought him back to me. Then she realized that on a birthday there are presents. She got up out of my lap and said, “Oh, baby Jesus, I find you a present”. She went over to the tree and looked under there for something to give to Jesus. There still was a small box under the tree that I had gotten a candle in the year before as a gift, but the box was so pretty I just wanted to put it under the tree. There were snowmen outside, nothing religious on the outside of this Christmas box, and on the inside it was just blue with stars, like the sky. There was nothing in it. She went right to that box and picked it up and brought it back to him. And said “Happy Birthday Jesus, here is you a present.” And we opened the box. And she decided it should be a house for him, a room for him to stay in. And so, that is now Baby Jesus’ home, and every time the lid would go on the box, she would say “open the door and let Jesus in his house”.
Now, don’t you know that I will ALWAYS have that box under my tree on every Christmas?? It will be a reminder to me. That a child, in her innocence, saw so clearly, that Jesus needs a place to call home. That he became just like us, that his mother held him and tickled him and changed his diaper and he was a real human child. And that, on his day and every day, you should seek to give him a gift. You give an unused package, pretty on the outside, but empty inside, and you open the door and you allow him to come in and make it his home. It doesn’t get much more simple than that, does it?
Thank you Shaelin for the gift only a 2-year-old could give her Tisi. It was my best gift of all. The gift of innocence and love and giving.
I pray he has found a home in you.
Merry Christmas
Teresa
Shaelin is my granddaughter, now 3½ years old, and does not stop running (or talking) from the minute she wakes up until she goes to sleep at night. She is very well spoken and intelligent and focused, and of course, beautiful, with huge bright blue eyes, and more spunk than you would think such a small package could hold! (Of course, I’m not at all prejudiced!) She and my daughter lived with us for a while after she was born and I am especially close to her.
Anyway, I’ve observed her this season and also last Christmas, and I’ve learned so much by watching her, as I always do. Because of her innocence, she takes things at face value. She is a joy to spend time with and she loves to come play at Tisi’s house (that’s me). She lives in pure honesty. She hasn’t learned the trait of covering up, hiding, lying.
I have a nativity set I’ve had since my children were little. It is unbreakable and I’ve always allowed them to play with it. So last Christmas was the first year that a new generation has played with it. Shaelin went straight to it almost every time she came to the house. Over the years, I’ve added a few pieces, the last one being the “inn”. There is an innkeeper outside with his hand pointing people on down the street. The door opens and there is a light on in the inn.
When Shaelin first pulled her stool up to the table to stand and play with the nativity, she was drawn to the baby. I told her his name was Jesus and she picked him up and in her little girl inborn nurturing ways says, “Oh, baby Jesus” and held him close to her. Then she took him in one hand and with the other went “tickle, tickle, tickle”. Then she informed me he needed his diaper changed. To her, he was a baby, just like every other human baby, and she treated him as such. It bothered her that he was outside in the stable, and every time she left the house, I would always find baby Jesus just inside the door of the inn. She knew he needed a place, and that he did not belong outside.
Then on Christmas night last year, all the kids and Perry went to see Benjamin Button, and Shaelin and I stayed home and played. She sat in my lap and we were drawing pictures on a doodle board she got for Christmas. I drew a rough picture of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and sang “Away in a Manger” to her. Then I said, “Christmas is Jesus’ birthday”. And we sang Happy Birthday Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to You. And I love what happened next. She walked over to the nativity and got Jesus and brought him back to me. Then she realized that on a birthday there are presents. She got up out of my lap and said, “Oh, baby Jesus, I find you a present”. She went over to the tree and looked under there for something to give to Jesus. There still was a small box under the tree that I had gotten a candle in the year before as a gift, but the box was so pretty I just wanted to put it under the tree. There were snowmen outside, nothing religious on the outside of this Christmas box, and on the inside it was just blue with stars, like the sky. There was nothing in it. She went right to that box and picked it up and brought it back to him. And said “Happy Birthday Jesus, here is you a present.” And we opened the box. And she decided it should be a house for him, a room for him to stay in. And so, that is now Baby Jesus’ home, and every time the lid would go on the box, she would say “open the door and let Jesus in his house”.
Now, don’t you know that I will ALWAYS have that box under my tree on every Christmas?? It will be a reminder to me. That a child, in her innocence, saw so clearly, that Jesus needs a place to call home. That he became just like us, that his mother held him and tickled him and changed his diaper and he was a real human child. And that, on his day and every day, you should seek to give him a gift. You give an unused package, pretty on the outside, but empty inside, and you open the door and you allow him to come in and make it his home. It doesn’t get much more simple than that, does it?
Thank you Shaelin for the gift only a 2-year-old could give her Tisi. It was my best gift of all. The gift of innocence and love and giving.
I pray he has found a home in you.
Merry Christmas
Teresa
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Day 21, The Christmas Story - Pagans
Good Christmas Eve morning! I know you all are ready for tonight and tomorrow (haha). This is the day you try to get all the little things pulled together. Maybe some of you are doing a lot of cooking today or tomorrow. I'm looking forward to my family being here tonight and tomorrow. We'll play games and eat and play some more and laugh a lot.
Well, today we are going to talk about the "wise men". Actually when the wise men came to Jesus “Christmas” was over. They didn’t come to the manger, but actually to Jerusalem, and then later to a house where they found Jesus with his mother. Sorry to burst your bubble at the outset, but here we go...
Matthew 2
1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.”
We see three men (actually the Bible never says three, that part is legend - sorry to burst your bubble again) coming from distant lands, actually they were pagan astrologers, who traveled hundreds of miles to see this newborn “King of the Jews”. They showed up in Jerusalem after weeks or even months of travel, asking where they could find the newborn King of the Jews? All the people in Jerusalem became “deeply disturbed”. Knowing how religious the Jews were, and especially the spiritual leaders, they were probably quite taken aback by these pagans coming into their Holy City and asking where their newborn king was. In their arrogance, some of them probably thought “how dare a pagan Gentile come to us and tell us the king of the Jews is born! What do they know about our prophecies and about our God? We are God’s chosen people. Don’t they realize that we would have known it if our Messiah had been born?”
But these astrologers had obviously been watching the star as it arose and had been studying it and following it. Herod eventually caught wind of what was going on in the city and became very concerned, and called for a private meeting with these astrologers. I find it very interesting that they were knowledgeable enough about Jewish prophecy, that they came to seek and worship this king from hundreds of miles away, yet the king of the Jews didn’t even know his people’s own beliefs and prophecies? He had to consult the spiritual leaders. These unclean Gentiles knew of the prophecy and believed it and traveled that far to see this king and, not only to see him, but to worship him and bring him gifts.
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
In an act of strategy, he invited the wise men for a private meeting. Don’t you know he wined and dined them? He learned all about when the star first appeared, about their background as astrologers. He picked their brain for every bit of information he could get. He feigned interest in their astrology and hung on every word. Then he commissioned them to go search for this baby, and when he was found, he asked the men to please come back and tell him so he could go and worship him too. We all know Herod never intended to worship Jesus. He was gathering information. Herod was probably beside himself wanting to know where this supposed king was. He wanted nothing and no one to overthrow his rule. He had even had some of his own wives and children put to death if they dared cross him in any way. He was ruthless. He was a paranoid, power hungry man, and he had a plan.
Today what strikes me about this section of the story is that, in our arrogance, and in our “spiritual knowledge”, we as Christians can sometimes have an appearance of being “holier than”. We forget our holiness is in Christ alone, and that sometimes he speaks his truth even through unbelievers. He spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament, so I’m sure it’s not too hard for truth to come out of the mouth of even unbelievers. Truth is absolute and truth is His, no matter what mouth it comes out of. It is us Christians that are sometimes too proud, too knowledgeable, too spiritual, to admit that we totally lost focus of the main thing – finding Jesus and worshiping him. No wonder sometimes we are ridiculed by unbelievers. If we have any form of arrogance, we should be ridiculed. God himself hates our arrogance. And so will the people around you that are looking for Jesus. They won’t want any part of what you think you have to offer, that is, if you are willing to offer it at all.
As this Christmas Eve is upon us, I pray we would re-evaluate our “Christianity”. Is it truly a humble walk with the Lord? Or is it an “I’ve got it together”, “no pagan’s gonna tell me anything I don’t know”, “I’m God’s chosen, who are you?” attitude. If we do not approach this new year with absolute humility before God and before all those around us, we will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the coming year for Christ! I pray that the first thing on our list of New Year’s “resolutions” is humility before God, being open to being used by him in whatever way he wants to use us. Remember, the only knowledge we have, the only spirituality we have, the only salvation we have is because of that baby the pagans took months to travel to find, when nobody in Jerusalem bothered looking. We are no different than any unbeliever, because all we have is from God, and that same grace is available to them too. And some of them will be seeking him this coming year. The question is, will you help them to find him?
I pray this is your most blessed of Christmases. There will not be a post tomorrow, but there will be one on Saturday. I pray that quiet awe will begin to surround you as the darkness sets in tonight and that your heart will be silent before your King and that you will feel the quiet holiness of this season. Tonight, set aside some time just for him, just for the king. Give him the first gift of Christmas - yourself. Before you go to bed, go outside in the dark and look up into the sky. Look into the same stars that were in the sky 2000 years ago on the night Jesus came to us and realize he is still with us - Emmanuel.
Merry Christmas,
Teresa
Well, today we are going to talk about the "wise men". Actually when the wise men came to Jesus “Christmas” was over. They didn’t come to the manger, but actually to Jerusalem, and then later to a house where they found Jesus with his mother. Sorry to burst your bubble at the outset, but here we go...
Matthew 2
1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.”
We see three men (actually the Bible never says three, that part is legend - sorry to burst your bubble again) coming from distant lands, actually they were pagan astrologers, who traveled hundreds of miles to see this newborn “King of the Jews”. They showed up in Jerusalem after weeks or even months of travel, asking where they could find the newborn King of the Jews? All the people in Jerusalem became “deeply disturbed”. Knowing how religious the Jews were, and especially the spiritual leaders, they were probably quite taken aback by these pagans coming into their Holy City and asking where their newborn king was. In their arrogance, some of them probably thought “how dare a pagan Gentile come to us and tell us the king of the Jews is born! What do they know about our prophecies and about our God? We are God’s chosen people. Don’t they realize that we would have known it if our Messiah had been born?”
But these astrologers had obviously been watching the star as it arose and had been studying it and following it. Herod eventually caught wind of what was going on in the city and became very concerned, and called for a private meeting with these astrologers. I find it very interesting that they were knowledgeable enough about Jewish prophecy, that they came to seek and worship this king from hundreds of miles away, yet the king of the Jews didn’t even know his people’s own beliefs and prophecies? He had to consult the spiritual leaders. These unclean Gentiles knew of the prophecy and believed it and traveled that far to see this king and, not only to see him, but to worship him and bring him gifts.
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
In an act of strategy, he invited the wise men for a private meeting. Don’t you know he wined and dined them? He learned all about when the star first appeared, about their background as astrologers. He picked their brain for every bit of information he could get. He feigned interest in their astrology and hung on every word. Then he commissioned them to go search for this baby, and when he was found, he asked the men to please come back and tell him so he could go and worship him too. We all know Herod never intended to worship Jesus. He was gathering information. Herod was probably beside himself wanting to know where this supposed king was. He wanted nothing and no one to overthrow his rule. He had even had some of his own wives and children put to death if they dared cross him in any way. He was ruthless. He was a paranoid, power hungry man, and he had a plan.
Today what strikes me about this section of the story is that, in our arrogance, and in our “spiritual knowledge”, we as Christians can sometimes have an appearance of being “holier than”. We forget our holiness is in Christ alone, and that sometimes he speaks his truth even through unbelievers. He spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament, so I’m sure it’s not too hard for truth to come out of the mouth of even unbelievers. Truth is absolute and truth is His, no matter what mouth it comes out of. It is us Christians that are sometimes too proud, too knowledgeable, too spiritual, to admit that we totally lost focus of the main thing – finding Jesus and worshiping him. No wonder sometimes we are ridiculed by unbelievers. If we have any form of arrogance, we should be ridiculed. God himself hates our arrogance. And so will the people around you that are looking for Jesus. They won’t want any part of what you think you have to offer, that is, if you are willing to offer it at all.
As this Christmas Eve is upon us, I pray we would re-evaluate our “Christianity”. Is it truly a humble walk with the Lord? Or is it an “I’ve got it together”, “no pagan’s gonna tell me anything I don’t know”, “I’m God’s chosen, who are you?” attitude. If we do not approach this new year with absolute humility before God and before all those around us, we will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the coming year for Christ! I pray that the first thing on our list of New Year’s “resolutions” is humility before God, being open to being used by him in whatever way he wants to use us. Remember, the only knowledge we have, the only spirituality we have, the only salvation we have is because of that baby the pagans took months to travel to find, when nobody in Jerusalem bothered looking. We are no different than any unbeliever, because all we have is from God, and that same grace is available to them too. And some of them will be seeking him this coming year. The question is, will you help them to find him?
I pray this is your most blessed of Christmases. There will not be a post tomorrow, but there will be one on Saturday. I pray that quiet awe will begin to surround you as the darkness sets in tonight and that your heart will be silent before your King and that you will feel the quiet holiness of this season. Tonight, set aside some time just for him, just for the king. Give him the first gift of Christmas - yourself. Before you go to bed, go outside in the dark and look up into the sky. Look into the same stars that were in the sky 2000 years ago on the night Jesus came to us and realize he is still with us - Emmanuel.
Merry Christmas,
Teresa
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Day 20, The Christmas Story - Anna
Good Christmas Eve Eve! I hope you are not too hurried and harried to enjoy the upcoming days. Yesterday, we looked at Simeon in the temple, and today we look at a woman in the Temple named Anna.
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
There are women who are prophets mentioned in the scriptures several times. Anna is one of those women. For some reason, Luke gives more attention to women in his gospel than Matthew, Mark or John. And I’m glad he does, because he has shown us females what an integral part women can play in Christianity. Yay! From what we read it seems that Anna had become a widow only 7 years after her marriage. If you remember, from Jewish betrothal customs of the teenage girls, she would have only been in her early 20s when she became a widow. That means she had been staying at the temple for over 60 years! (I wonder if this is where Catholics get the idea of nuns. Bishop Stafford, if you are reading this, I’d love to hear about that.)
Anna’s father was Phanuel. Some sources say he was a high priest. If so, Anna would have grown up in the presence of a father who was a devout religious figure, devoted to God’s service. She would have known the meaning of every item of his priestly garments, his ephod, the stones on his breastplate, the colors of the robe and what they represented, the word of God rolled up into little pouches that he wore. I am sure he probably sat with her on more than one occasion and explained to his little girl all about what it meant to be a priest, a high priest. He would have been the only one allowed to go into the Holy of Holies. In modern day, she would have been a PK, a preacher’s kid. Now, I’m not a preacher’s kid, but I’m a preacher’s granddaughter, another preacher’s niece, and another preacher’s step-daughter, and life being raised around preachers is definitely different. Everything about your life is immersed in the church. Like I had told you in an earlier study, I spent my young days right by my granddaddy, going to the hospitals, visiting people at their home to witness to them, picking up carload after carload of kids for VBS, playing in the living room while my grandfather studied his Bible there for hours, went to more funerals as a little girl than most people go to in their lives, pretend teaching in a classroom while he was up at church doing stuff, standing by him after service while he shook each member’s hand as they left the church, (so they had to shake my hand too). Not the normal kid’s upbringing. But I loved it, and I still treasure it, and I’m sure Anna did too. It is a deep and dear part of anyone raised around it. So much so that after her husband died, as a young woman in her 20s, she devoted her life to being at the Temple, to prayer, and to fasting.
I’ve said if anything ever happened to Perry, I’d do like Anna and just devote myself to the church, go to Bible college, and do something in ministry. Guess I'd be a Baptist nun, haha. Now, believe me, I don’t want anything to happen to Perry because I love him dearly and he is one of the most wonderful blessings I have in my life. No one could ever replace him in my heart. But, I guess this may have been what Anna did. Alone, young, widowed and grieving, she returned as best she could, to what she had always known. After her husband died, she devoted her life to living at the Temple, to prayer, to fasting. She was called a prophetess. These are the trademarks that identified her to others when they heard the name “Anna”.
Also, as a woman, there were only certain areas she could have even entered around the temple, namely the outer courts. She could not go where the men went inside of the temple. But still, she devoted her life to God and stayed as "close" to him as her culture would physically allow her to. So as an old woman on this special day, she walked upon Simeon talking to Mary and Joseph about their son, Jesus. She heard the things he was telling them.
(33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”)
As she heard his words, she began to praise God. She realized that the fulfillment of all her prayers was bundled up right in front of her. The hope of her heart was revealed to her that day. And as a result, what was her response? She told everybody. It says she talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem. What an amazing and exciting day that must have been for this old woman. She never held her own children in her arms, but she held the Messiah. She never could enter into the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, but she held the Holy of Holies in her own arms and peered into his own face.
Anna’s father’s name, Phanuel, means “face of God”. Her father may have sought God through sacrifice and priestly duties, but his daughter, Anna, as devoted to God as himself and maybe even more so, would actually one day be the one to get to see the face of God in the human form of a 6-week-old tiny baby. Anna is a form of Hannah and means “grace”. God bestowed his grace on a woman that day when he allowed her to see what the priests never would, even though she would never be allowed to walk where the men walk. How's that for grace? Both her father's name and her own name were prophecies over her life.
I find it interesting that it says she talked to those who were “waiting and expecting God to rescue them”. She knew they would receive her report. Some people do not want to hear your report, and some will not receive it, but some are looking for something, and they are desperately praying and hoping and waiting for God to rescue them. When God reveals himself to you, it is not so you can keep it to yourself. It is a lifeline to throw out to others who are praying for rescue. To the one who is drowning and just about to go under. And like Simeon, she could not be silent about what she had been so graciously allowed to see. Both Simeon and Anna, in their old age, after years of seeking their Messiah, were both allowed to have him revealed to them, both allowed to actually hold him in their arms, both allowed to share with everyone they could what they had witnessed before their death. I can picture God's hand that day reaching out through the veil of the Holy of Holies, even before the veil ever ripped in half when Jesus was crucified. He reached outside the holiest place, out past the inner court, on to the outer court, where common people live. He reached out past the curtain that day.
I love a phrase in a song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean called "Mercy Came Running", where it says "I can almost see Mercy's face pressed against the veil".
Like Anna, like Simeon, like the "wise men" we will study tomorrow, everyone of us who seeks him WILL find him. It is a promise he has made to you. Jesus does not hide from us, nor does he play games with us. He wants to reveal himself to us. But he is a gentleman, and even though he knocks at your door and seeks you, he will wait for you to invite him inside. And when you finally do seek him with all your heart, he will faithfully make himself known to you. He wants to be known by us. He wants what we see to make a big enough impact that we are changed, and that we tell other people. Not because it is the “duty” of us as Christians, but because something alive and active is in us, and it flows out of us to others because it cannot be contained within human flesh or kept to oneself. Religion cannot do that for you – only relationship can do that, can make you want to share him with others, can allow you see others through God’s eyes of love, can cause you devote yourself wholly to him and him alone.
So today, and forever, seek him, diligently, earnestly, and you WILL find him.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. And we will see the final group that sought him in this story, the pagan astrologers who came hundreds of miles...
Click http://www.actionext.com/names_p/phillips_craig_and_dean_lyrics/mercy_came_running.html to hear this song.
Mercy Came Running - lyrics
Once there was a holy place
Evidence of God's embrace
And I can almost see Mercy's face
Pressed against the veil
Looking down with longing eyes
Mercy must have realized
That once His blood was sacrificed
Freedom would prevail
And as the sky grew dark
And the earth began to shake
With justice no longer in the way
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me
Once there was a broken heart
Way too human from the start
And all the years left it torn apart
Hopeless and afraid
Walls I never meant to build
Left this prisoner unfulfilled
Freedom called but even still
It seemed so far away
I was bound by the chains
From the wages of my sin
Just when I felt like giving in
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me
Sometimes I still feel so far
So far from where I really should be
He gently calls to my heart
Just to remind me .... MERCY CAME RUNNING
Happy Christmas Eve Eve! The gift of Mercy is born to YOU! Can you see his face pressed against the veil?
Teresa
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
There are women who are prophets mentioned in the scriptures several times. Anna is one of those women. For some reason, Luke gives more attention to women in his gospel than Matthew, Mark or John. And I’m glad he does, because he has shown us females what an integral part women can play in Christianity. Yay! From what we read it seems that Anna had become a widow only 7 years after her marriage. If you remember, from Jewish betrothal customs of the teenage girls, she would have only been in her early 20s when she became a widow. That means she had been staying at the temple for over 60 years! (I wonder if this is where Catholics get the idea of nuns. Bishop Stafford, if you are reading this, I’d love to hear about that.)
Anna’s father was Phanuel. Some sources say he was a high priest. If so, Anna would have grown up in the presence of a father who was a devout religious figure, devoted to God’s service. She would have known the meaning of every item of his priestly garments, his ephod, the stones on his breastplate, the colors of the robe and what they represented, the word of God rolled up into little pouches that he wore. I am sure he probably sat with her on more than one occasion and explained to his little girl all about what it meant to be a priest, a high priest. He would have been the only one allowed to go into the Holy of Holies. In modern day, she would have been a PK, a preacher’s kid. Now, I’m not a preacher’s kid, but I’m a preacher’s granddaughter, another preacher’s niece, and another preacher’s step-daughter, and life being raised around preachers is definitely different. Everything about your life is immersed in the church. Like I had told you in an earlier study, I spent my young days right by my granddaddy, going to the hospitals, visiting people at their home to witness to them, picking up carload after carload of kids for VBS, playing in the living room while my grandfather studied his Bible there for hours, went to more funerals as a little girl than most people go to in their lives, pretend teaching in a classroom while he was up at church doing stuff, standing by him after service while he shook each member’s hand as they left the church, (so they had to shake my hand too). Not the normal kid’s upbringing. But I loved it, and I still treasure it, and I’m sure Anna did too. It is a deep and dear part of anyone raised around it. So much so that after her husband died, as a young woman in her 20s, she devoted her life to being at the Temple, to prayer, and to fasting.
I’ve said if anything ever happened to Perry, I’d do like Anna and just devote myself to the church, go to Bible college, and do something in ministry. Guess I'd be a Baptist nun, haha. Now, believe me, I don’t want anything to happen to Perry because I love him dearly and he is one of the most wonderful blessings I have in my life. No one could ever replace him in my heart. But, I guess this may have been what Anna did. Alone, young, widowed and grieving, she returned as best she could, to what she had always known. After her husband died, she devoted her life to living at the Temple, to prayer, to fasting. She was called a prophetess. These are the trademarks that identified her to others when they heard the name “Anna”.
Also, as a woman, there were only certain areas she could have even entered around the temple, namely the outer courts. She could not go where the men went inside of the temple. But still, she devoted her life to God and stayed as "close" to him as her culture would physically allow her to. So as an old woman on this special day, she walked upon Simeon talking to Mary and Joseph about their son, Jesus. She heard the things he was telling them.
(33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”)
As she heard his words, she began to praise God. She realized that the fulfillment of all her prayers was bundled up right in front of her. The hope of her heart was revealed to her that day. And as a result, what was her response? She told everybody. It says she talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem. What an amazing and exciting day that must have been for this old woman. She never held her own children in her arms, but she held the Messiah. She never could enter into the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, but she held the Holy of Holies in her own arms and peered into his own face.
Anna’s father’s name, Phanuel, means “face of God”. Her father may have sought God through sacrifice and priestly duties, but his daughter, Anna, as devoted to God as himself and maybe even more so, would actually one day be the one to get to see the face of God in the human form of a 6-week-old tiny baby. Anna is a form of Hannah and means “grace”. God bestowed his grace on a woman that day when he allowed her to see what the priests never would, even though she would never be allowed to walk where the men walk. How's that for grace? Both her father's name and her own name were prophecies over her life.
I find it interesting that it says she talked to those who were “waiting and expecting God to rescue them”. She knew they would receive her report. Some people do not want to hear your report, and some will not receive it, but some are looking for something, and they are desperately praying and hoping and waiting for God to rescue them. When God reveals himself to you, it is not so you can keep it to yourself. It is a lifeline to throw out to others who are praying for rescue. To the one who is drowning and just about to go under. And like Simeon, she could not be silent about what she had been so graciously allowed to see. Both Simeon and Anna, in their old age, after years of seeking their Messiah, were both allowed to have him revealed to them, both allowed to actually hold him in their arms, both allowed to share with everyone they could what they had witnessed before their death. I can picture God's hand that day reaching out through the veil of the Holy of Holies, even before the veil ever ripped in half when Jesus was crucified. He reached outside the holiest place, out past the inner court, on to the outer court, where common people live. He reached out past the curtain that day.
I love a phrase in a song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean called "Mercy Came Running", where it says "I can almost see Mercy's face pressed against the veil".
Like Anna, like Simeon, like the "wise men" we will study tomorrow, everyone of us who seeks him WILL find him. It is a promise he has made to you. Jesus does not hide from us, nor does he play games with us. He wants to reveal himself to us. But he is a gentleman, and even though he knocks at your door and seeks you, he will wait for you to invite him inside. And when you finally do seek him with all your heart, he will faithfully make himself known to you. He wants to be known by us. He wants what we see to make a big enough impact that we are changed, and that we tell other people. Not because it is the “duty” of us as Christians, but because something alive and active is in us, and it flows out of us to others because it cannot be contained within human flesh or kept to oneself. Religion cannot do that for you – only relationship can do that, can make you want to share him with others, can allow you see others through God’s eyes of love, can cause you devote yourself wholly to him and him alone.
So today, and forever, seek him, diligently, earnestly, and you WILL find him.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. And we will see the final group that sought him in this story, the pagan astrologers who came hundreds of miles...
Click http://www.actionext.com/names_p/phillips_craig_and_dean_lyrics/mercy_came_running.html to hear this song.
Mercy Came Running - lyrics
Once there was a holy place
Evidence of God's embrace
And I can almost see Mercy's face
Pressed against the veil
Looking down with longing eyes
Mercy must have realized
That once His blood was sacrificed
Freedom would prevail
And as the sky grew dark
And the earth began to shake
With justice no longer in the way
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me
Once there was a broken heart
Way too human from the start
And all the years left it torn apart
Hopeless and afraid
Walls I never meant to build
Left this prisoner unfulfilled
Freedom called but even still
It seemed so far away
I was bound by the chains
From the wages of my sin
Just when I felt like giving in
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me
Sometimes I still feel so far
So far from where I really should be
He gently calls to my heart
Just to remind me .... MERCY CAME RUNNING
Happy Christmas Eve Eve! The gift of Mercy is born to YOU! Can you see his face pressed against the veil?
Teresa
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Day 19, The Christmas Story, Simeon and Seeing
21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.
22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
We studied the circumcision ceremony when we looked at John, Zechariah and Elizabeth, which occurred eight days after the baby’s birth. There is another “ceremony”, a purification offering. I don’t know the exact time table of Mary, Joseph and Jesus leaving Bethlehem, or where the circumcision ceremony was performed. Or when they traveled to Jerusalem to the temple. All I know is there was a lot of traveling going on in the first couple of years of Jesus’ little life. This offering would have been made when Jesus was 40 days old, and the purification offering was for the purification of the mother. Also, according to Jewish law, if her first child was a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord. They were required to sacrifice two turtledoves for this. This shows Mary and Joseph's poverty, for that was the sacrifice required of poor people. Those with wealth would have been sacrificing larger animals.
Most interesting of all to me was that they had to redeem him, or “buy him back” from the Lord with a certain sum of money.
How interesting that Mary and Joseph took their child after 40 days to the temple in Jerusalem. What an ironic picture that they “bought back” and sacrificed for the very One who would buy us all back with the sacrifice of his own life, his own blood. And all the while the Redeemer of them all was in their presence!
25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there.
And yet again we have another person filled with the Holy Spirit. It honestly had never entered my mind that there was this much activity of the Holy Spirit until I studied this story more closely – how active the Holy Spirit was during this whole process. You think of him being there on the day of Pentecost and from there on out, but you don’t really stop to realize he’s been at work all along. It’s like watching an orchestra of divinely coordinated events.
A man named Simeon was eagerly looking for, and expecting, the Messiah. He was a devout and righteous man. Because of his relationship with God, earnestly seeking the Messiah, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he actually got to see the Messiah. So on this day that day Jesus was being brought to the temple, the Spirit led Simeon go to the temple also. So that when Jesus came into the temple, Simeon was already there. When he saw Jesus, he recognized this child as the Messiah. The Holy Spirit revealed it to him. He opened his eyes. Simeon took Jesus in his arms, and as he held his newborn Messiah in his very own arms, he praised God with the blessing that you see here:
He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
Why did Simeon see the Lord, the Messiah? Because he had so earnestly sought him with all his heart. Everybody quotes Jeremiah 29:11, but have you read further? Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” What a promise! God wants to be found. But your heart must seek for him like you look for a lost treasure. Daily.
Why is it we complain we can’t see God at work, we don’t hear him, it doesn’t feel like he’s there? Maybe we haven’t searched for him with all our hearts. Maybe finding Jesus isn’t the foremost concern in our life, the thought that wakes us up in the morning, the consuming passion of our life. Do you honestly even want to find him this week, during all the Christmas commotion? Is that on your list of things to do? Maybe our spirits are never quiet enough in his presence to hear the Holy Spirit tell us where to go, how to position ourselves, where to wait, to be there waiting when Jesus shows up!
Matthew 6:33 says “seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you”...
Simeon had been seeking Jesus, so intently so, that he had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would get to see him before he died. Simeon saw what the shepherds saw, that the Messiah had been born. He held the very Messiah in his arms and worshiped his God, saying “now let me die in peace, because I’ve seen your salvation”. Jesus was the desire of Simeon’s heart. And God was pleased to bless Simeon with seeing the Messiah for himself before he died.
We are all seeking something. What is it every day that you are seeking, that consumes your waking and sometimes sleeping thoughts, that takes your extra time, that asks for your money, that you think about the moment you wake up, that you ponder about, make plans for, study about, watch? What is your primary focus? What is the desire of your heart?
Excitement? Fun? Retirement? Your stock and 401k recovering? Your team making it to Superbowl? Fantasy Football? Your weight? Your looks? The acceptance of your peers? Your paycheck? Your house and car? And on and on your list might go...
Let me say this - You WILL find what you seek for, in one way or another. It just might not be exactly how you thought it would be.
Luke 11:9-10 says “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
So, what is it that you really are seeking deep in your spirit? I think if you are quiet long enough and brutally honest with yourself you will have to admit that what you seek, no matter what form it seems to be taking, is peace and contentment, and that can only be found by seeking one thing – a person - a savior - Jesus. Just as Simeon did. Seek him with your whole heart. Everything else will take care of itself. And while you live here on earth you will also get to see Jesus – every day.
Can you say like Simeon did "I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people?" It is my hope that you can.
Praying for open eyes to see.
Love, Teresa
22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
We studied the circumcision ceremony when we looked at John, Zechariah and Elizabeth, which occurred eight days after the baby’s birth. There is another “ceremony”, a purification offering. I don’t know the exact time table of Mary, Joseph and Jesus leaving Bethlehem, or where the circumcision ceremony was performed. Or when they traveled to Jerusalem to the temple. All I know is there was a lot of traveling going on in the first couple of years of Jesus’ little life. This offering would have been made when Jesus was 40 days old, and the purification offering was for the purification of the mother. Also, according to Jewish law, if her first child was a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord. They were required to sacrifice two turtledoves for this. This shows Mary and Joseph's poverty, for that was the sacrifice required of poor people. Those with wealth would have been sacrificing larger animals.
Most interesting of all to me was that they had to redeem him, or “buy him back” from the Lord with a certain sum of money.
How interesting that Mary and Joseph took their child after 40 days to the temple in Jerusalem. What an ironic picture that they “bought back” and sacrificed for the very One who would buy us all back with the sacrifice of his own life, his own blood. And all the while the Redeemer of them all was in their presence!
25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there.
And yet again we have another person filled with the Holy Spirit. It honestly had never entered my mind that there was this much activity of the Holy Spirit until I studied this story more closely – how active the Holy Spirit was during this whole process. You think of him being there on the day of Pentecost and from there on out, but you don’t really stop to realize he’s been at work all along. It’s like watching an orchestra of divinely coordinated events.
A man named Simeon was eagerly looking for, and expecting, the Messiah. He was a devout and righteous man. Because of his relationship with God, earnestly seeking the Messiah, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he actually got to see the Messiah. So on this day that day Jesus was being brought to the temple, the Spirit led Simeon go to the temple also. So that when Jesus came into the temple, Simeon was already there. When he saw Jesus, he recognized this child as the Messiah. The Holy Spirit revealed it to him. He opened his eyes. Simeon took Jesus in his arms, and as he held his newborn Messiah in his very own arms, he praised God with the blessing that you see here:
He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
Why did Simeon see the Lord, the Messiah? Because he had so earnestly sought him with all his heart. Everybody quotes Jeremiah 29:11, but have you read further? Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” What a promise! God wants to be found. But your heart must seek for him like you look for a lost treasure. Daily.
Why is it we complain we can’t see God at work, we don’t hear him, it doesn’t feel like he’s there? Maybe we haven’t searched for him with all our hearts. Maybe finding Jesus isn’t the foremost concern in our life, the thought that wakes us up in the morning, the consuming passion of our life. Do you honestly even want to find him this week, during all the Christmas commotion? Is that on your list of things to do? Maybe our spirits are never quiet enough in his presence to hear the Holy Spirit tell us where to go, how to position ourselves, where to wait, to be there waiting when Jesus shows up!
Matthew 6:33 says “seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you”...
Simeon had been seeking Jesus, so intently so, that he had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would get to see him before he died. Simeon saw what the shepherds saw, that the Messiah had been born. He held the very Messiah in his arms and worshiped his God, saying “now let me die in peace, because I’ve seen your salvation”. Jesus was the desire of Simeon’s heart. And God was pleased to bless Simeon with seeing the Messiah for himself before he died.
We are all seeking something. What is it every day that you are seeking, that consumes your waking and sometimes sleeping thoughts, that takes your extra time, that asks for your money, that you think about the moment you wake up, that you ponder about, make plans for, study about, watch? What is your primary focus? What is the desire of your heart?
Excitement? Fun? Retirement? Your stock and 401k recovering? Your team making it to Superbowl? Fantasy Football? Your weight? Your looks? The acceptance of your peers? Your paycheck? Your house and car? And on and on your list might go...
Let me say this - You WILL find what you seek for, in one way or another. It just might not be exactly how you thought it would be.
Luke 11:9-10 says “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
So, what is it that you really are seeking deep in your spirit? I think if you are quiet long enough and brutally honest with yourself you will have to admit that what you seek, no matter what form it seems to be taking, is peace and contentment, and that can only be found by seeking one thing – a person - a savior - Jesus. Just as Simeon did. Seek him with your whole heart. Everything else will take care of itself. And while you live here on earth you will also get to see Jesus – every day.
Can you say like Simeon did "I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people?" It is my hope that you can.
Praying for open eyes to see.
Love, Teresa
Monday, December 21, 2009
Day 18, The Christmas Story, Uncontainable
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
Can you imagine being one of them, a shepherd....being visited by angels? Wondering why it was us shepherds that God sent an angel to announce his birth? Getting your eyes opened into the spirit realm for a moment in time? Going into town and finding things just as the angel had told you? Finding a familiarly smelly cave with a man, a woman, and a newborn baby swaddled in strips of cloth, laying in a feeding trough of hay, surrounded by animals? And finally, the “aha” moment as you stood looking at the infant "shepherd" and it dawned on you. The realization that set in that he was like you. Lowly. Common. Working class. Plain. Regular. Like you. He came down to your level. He chose to announce it to you. He invited you to him. He bypassed kings and queens, and came to you. You are invited to see the Savior. You are invited into his tangible presence. He is like you, but still somehow God. God, here, with me.
Of course he is a king, of course he is God, but he laid down his rights as king to come to you. He wanted to come here. To change your life. To make your life more full than you ever thought it could be. To become your Savior, but also to become your friend. To show you that you could talk straight to him without having a priest talk to him for you. To walk with you and cry with you through hard days, to laugh and rejoice with you on the good ones. To be available to you at any moment of the day or night. To be faithful to draw you close to him no matter what you had done. To take your place for the punishment of yours sins, even though he had no sin of his own to be punished. To spend forever with....
Do you realize what level he stooped to, just to come to us? Do you realize he WANTED to? He chose to? The author of life, creator of everything, creator of YOU, reduced to a tiny...naked...hungry...crying...shivering... helpless bundle, totally dependent upon a human for his existence, for his nourishment, for his warmth, for his safety and protection. All because he wanted to come rescue you.
Ask God today to show you the level of sacrifice it took for Him to become one of us. The irony of being born to a carpenter, who would teach him how to create and fashion wood with his hands (even though it was him that created the tree and who taught men to create), to play in the sawdust at his feet as a toddler, to build your first project together with your dad as a young boy, to stand alongside him as a teen helping him build, and then as a man to have your own hands and feet nailed into that wood...all because he became one of us.
17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
It was just as the angel had told them! What they saw and experienced could not be contained! They had to share it! They were changed men! They took it back to their daily lives with them, “glorifying” God. Can we say the same? Can we say that what we have experienced by having Jesus come into our life cannot be contained to the point we have to talk about it? Can we say we take it with us everywhere we go, even into our workplace? Can we say it has made us a changed man or a changed woman forever? Does our very life bring honor and glory to God by the way we now live it?
All they saw that day was a baby. You and I have seen the whole picture - of his birth, his life, his ministry, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We have the books in the Bible to read about him, we have first hand accounts. We have it all. What do we do with it all is my question today?
I got a glimpse of what we do with it all, with the precious gift of Jesus we have been given. Just one trip to Kohl’s and Target hampered and grieved my spirit! Lines of people herded into roped off waiting lines like cattle, waiting for the “next available cashier”, people obviously tired and overspending, lights, tinsel, decorations, Christmas tree dinnerware, sales, sales, sales, dancing snowmen, penguins, and singing Santas, an old lady arguing in the aisle with a grandson because he couldn’t tell her what everybody wanted, a child tired of waiting in line, tired of being in a buggy. People scurrying everywhere to get something, anything, just so Aunt Hazel has a present under the tree. It has just never affected me like it did this time. It all seemed so foolish, like “chasing the wind”. Bowing to a god, a "spirit" of commercialism that has totally distracted us from the birth of our only hope. I feel ashamed of what we have done, of what it has all become. Of how ignored our guest is at his supposed celebration.
The only “birthday” celebration I’ve ever known where the “honoree” doesn’t get a gift, gets virtually ignored, and the guests go about lavishing on each other, but never on him. How odd and how selfish we humans are. Why are we not giving him anything?
But yet, knowing this would be, he still came. He knew we would do this. He knew mankind would totally reject him and find something else to worship. He knew he would be the last to get any recognition. He knew that materialism and commercialism would overtake us. He knew Santa would become the hero of the holiday and the Easter bunny the hero of the most sacred of his days. And he still came. He is still there, in the shadows, in the dark and dirty places, waiting for us. Because he thought we were worth it. And he is waiting for you.
What would it even look like this year to turn our hearts totally toward him? To give him a gift? Even the phrase “the true meaning of the season” has become cliche. What is it your parents say they want when you ask them? “Don’t get us anything, they say. Write me a card or something.” They want to know you. They want to know that you love them. Stuff is unimportant to them because they are your parents. Our Father is the same way. He just wants us. It’s all he’s ever wanted –us.
When you wrap the last of the stack of gifts, or when that last gift is opened Friday, sit among the paper and the bows and all the stuff you and your family have acquired, and ask yourself did you forget to give the most important present of all. Did you forget to give yourself to Christ? In the midst of all the giving mayhem, what did you truly give this year?
I love you all and I hope you truly sense what he has done for you. So much so, that you cannot contain it!
Teresa
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
Can you imagine being one of them, a shepherd....being visited by angels? Wondering why it was us shepherds that God sent an angel to announce his birth? Getting your eyes opened into the spirit realm for a moment in time? Going into town and finding things just as the angel had told you? Finding a familiarly smelly cave with a man, a woman, and a newborn baby swaddled in strips of cloth, laying in a feeding trough of hay, surrounded by animals? And finally, the “aha” moment as you stood looking at the infant "shepherd" and it dawned on you. The realization that set in that he was like you. Lowly. Common. Working class. Plain. Regular. Like you. He came down to your level. He chose to announce it to you. He invited you to him. He bypassed kings and queens, and came to you. You are invited to see the Savior. You are invited into his tangible presence. He is like you, but still somehow God. God, here, with me.
Of course he is a king, of course he is God, but he laid down his rights as king to come to you. He wanted to come here. To change your life. To make your life more full than you ever thought it could be. To become your Savior, but also to become your friend. To show you that you could talk straight to him without having a priest talk to him for you. To walk with you and cry with you through hard days, to laugh and rejoice with you on the good ones. To be available to you at any moment of the day or night. To be faithful to draw you close to him no matter what you had done. To take your place for the punishment of yours sins, even though he had no sin of his own to be punished. To spend forever with....
Do you realize what level he stooped to, just to come to us? Do you realize he WANTED to? He chose to? The author of life, creator of everything, creator of YOU, reduced to a tiny...naked...hungry...crying...shivering... helpless bundle, totally dependent upon a human for his existence, for his nourishment, for his warmth, for his safety and protection. All because he wanted to come rescue you.
Ask God today to show you the level of sacrifice it took for Him to become one of us. The irony of being born to a carpenter, who would teach him how to create and fashion wood with his hands (even though it was him that created the tree and who taught men to create), to play in the sawdust at his feet as a toddler, to build your first project together with your dad as a young boy, to stand alongside him as a teen helping him build, and then as a man to have your own hands and feet nailed into that wood...all because he became one of us.
17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
It was just as the angel had told them! What they saw and experienced could not be contained! They had to share it! They were changed men! They took it back to their daily lives with them, “glorifying” God. Can we say the same? Can we say that what we have experienced by having Jesus come into our life cannot be contained to the point we have to talk about it? Can we say we take it with us everywhere we go, even into our workplace? Can we say it has made us a changed man or a changed woman forever? Does our very life bring honor and glory to God by the way we now live it?
All they saw that day was a baby. You and I have seen the whole picture - of his birth, his life, his ministry, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We have the books in the Bible to read about him, we have first hand accounts. We have it all. What do we do with it all is my question today?
I got a glimpse of what we do with it all, with the precious gift of Jesus we have been given. Just one trip to Kohl’s and Target hampered and grieved my spirit! Lines of people herded into roped off waiting lines like cattle, waiting for the “next available cashier”, people obviously tired and overspending, lights, tinsel, decorations, Christmas tree dinnerware, sales, sales, sales, dancing snowmen, penguins, and singing Santas, an old lady arguing in the aisle with a grandson because he couldn’t tell her what everybody wanted, a child tired of waiting in line, tired of being in a buggy. People scurrying everywhere to get something, anything, just so Aunt Hazel has a present under the tree. It has just never affected me like it did this time. It all seemed so foolish, like “chasing the wind”. Bowing to a god, a "spirit" of commercialism that has totally distracted us from the birth of our only hope. I feel ashamed of what we have done, of what it has all become. Of how ignored our guest is at his supposed celebration.
The only “birthday” celebration I’ve ever known where the “honoree” doesn’t get a gift, gets virtually ignored, and the guests go about lavishing on each other, but never on him. How odd and how selfish we humans are. Why are we not giving him anything?
But yet, knowing this would be, he still came. He knew we would do this. He knew mankind would totally reject him and find something else to worship. He knew he would be the last to get any recognition. He knew that materialism and commercialism would overtake us. He knew Santa would become the hero of the holiday and the Easter bunny the hero of the most sacred of his days. And he still came. He is still there, in the shadows, in the dark and dirty places, waiting for us. Because he thought we were worth it. And he is waiting for you.
What would it even look like this year to turn our hearts totally toward him? To give him a gift? Even the phrase “the true meaning of the season” has become cliche. What is it your parents say they want when you ask them? “Don’t get us anything, they say. Write me a card or something.” They want to know you. They want to know that you love them. Stuff is unimportant to them because they are your parents. Our Father is the same way. He just wants us. It’s all he’s ever wanted –us.
When you wrap the last of the stack of gifts, or when that last gift is opened Friday, sit among the paper and the bows and all the stuff you and your family have acquired, and ask yourself did you forget to give the most important present of all. Did you forget to give yourself to Christ? In the midst of all the giving mayhem, what did you truly give this year?
I love you all and I hope you truly sense what he has done for you. So much so, that you cannot contain it!
Teresa
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Day 17, The Christmas Story, The Shepherds
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
As Mary and Joseph were alone and taking in the wonder of what had happened in the past few hours, they held this newborn baby boy and enjoyed the warmth of the moments that are the first treasured times with your child. A calmness comes over a woman who has her new baby in her arms. I can say, outside of the peace that God himself gives, there is no other peace quite like it for a woman. I would say that humanly, the absolute most contented times I remember in my life are those holding my newborn children. Everything feels like it is absolutely right with the world, that you are right where you were made to be – holding this tiny new life, finally knowing what everybody else meant when they tried to describe the love you would feel for this child. You nodded and smiled, but you didn’t really understand the depth of what they meant until you experienced it for yourself.
Meanwhile, surrounding the town where they are staying, we see a fourth angelic visitation take place in this story, the angel’s visit to the boys and men tending sheep on the night watch that evening around Bethlehem. Dark night, maybe it was overcast, maybe there was some moonlight. They could see flickers of light from the buildings in town. But there in their field were only themselves, and their flock of sheep. I don’t know why, but I’m beginning to find it slightly funny that “boom”, an angel is standing in front of your face out of nowhere and he keeps saying “don’t be afraid!”. If I was out in a field alone in the middle of the night in extreme darkness, and all of a sudden a being immediately just burst into the scene before my eyes, I think smelling salts would be in order, not just a “do not be afraid”. But nevertheless, the angel of the Lord said it. Is there any doubt in your minds by now that if you ever see an angel, he’ll probably say that to you before you faint?
So, once the shepherds regained their composure, they realized it wasn’t dark anymore! There was a radiance, a glow all around them. The really neat thing about all these angelic visitations in this story is that not one of these people questioned that an angel was visiting them. They got scared, but nobody disbelieved that there was an angel there with them. I think in our culture, it would be much harder to convince anyone that we just saw into the spirit realm. However, I truly believe the further that time progresses, the more we will begin to see supernatural things and see into the spirit world. We will be returned to a place of belief. The shepherds believed and they listened to what was being told to them.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
The unlikeliness of the announcement can’t be missed here. God didn’t send the angels to the authorities, the pharisees, the town administrator, the governor, or any king or other ruler. The first place he wanted to tell that his son had arrived was a bunch of shepherds. Everything he has done in this story is unlikely (according to our human understanding), but when looking at the bigger picture it all makes perfect sense. Of course, he would come to the lowly and humble. Of course, he would ask these shepherd boys to come see one like them, a shepherd, the shepherd of their people. Their savior. They were the first to be told that the prophecy of their people had been filled just a short distance from where they stood that very night. There was nothing to merit such a visit to this unlikely audience, except that God delights in humility, in humbling himself to come here, to be born in the nastiest, dirtiest, place. To reaching as far down as it took to get to even the absolute lowest person in our eyes. To be born into the exact stuff he came to set us free from. Filth and dirt, darkness, coldness, aloneness, social prejudices, poverty, oppression... He didn’t just come to earth, he came down as far as one could come, so much so that it would be a very difficult thing for his own people to accept that he was their King, their Messiah. It didn’t fit their fairytale dream of how they decided it would be once he showed up. It didn’t this night, and it never would. He was pure and innocent and holy, yet everybody was so offended by him. He would become a stone to cause many people to stumble. But not the shepherds – not tonight. God chose to announce the Shepherd of his people to these shepherds. He was now one of them, a shepherd.
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Suddenly, the shepherds saw something even more amazing than one angel in front of them, they saw a host, it says they saw the ARMIES of heaven praising God. Now THAT would be an overwhelming sight. I believe their eyes were opened into the spirit realm. They saw what was going on in the heavenly realm. They saw armies, not wimpy little thin blonde metrosexual angels as we so often see portrayed in pictures and movies. They saw warriors. (You men reading this, think "Gladiator" or "300"). They saw the massive strength of the heavenly host, all humbly praising their commander, consumed in total worship of God at that moment. They were witnessing a worship service, church, heaven-style. They were witnessing what every member of heaven was experiencing at that moment. They were given an open window to watch it. A scene no one could ever forget in their lifetime. And very few since that time have been privileged to see into the worship that surrounds the throne of God. Stephen, Paul, and John are a few.
And then, as soon as it had come, it was gone. The glowing light around them was gone and the night was again black around them and they could only hear the bleating of the sheep around them. (I’m thinking the sheep weren’t able to take all this in, because knowing how stupid and afraid sheep are, they would have run away while the shepherds weren’t watching them, scared to death. Thank goodness they weren't shepherding fainting goats.)
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
And it is here we will stop for the weekend. Tomorrow will be the last Sunday before Christmas, and I truly do hope for you it is the most meaningful Sunday that you have experienced this whole year of 2009. I hope that more than ever, you identify with this story in such a personal way that it becomes more than just The Christmas Story. I would also encourage you to watch the movie that came out last year entitled “The Nativity”. It is an amazing Biblically-based movie that just totally brought to life the characters of these events for me, and I can’t wait to watch it again this year! When Perry and I left the theatre last year, we were both in tears and speechless because it was so real to us. I know if you watch Elf, Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, The Family Stone, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, etc., etc., that you can carve out the time to watch the one movie that has been out recently that will encourage you in your faith this Christmas!! Buy it, rent it or borrow it. It is showing on cable TV all the time right now. I want to encourage you to carve out quiet time this week with God and with your family. A time to hear in your mind and see in your mind what these shepherds must have witnessed. These next five days are the last five of this season to truly deeply reflect on why Jesus came to you. What he did by coming to you.
Before ending, I want to share this true story with you. As I said before, I believe in these coming days, we will be allowed to see more and more into this spirit world that the shepherds saw into. Into things that are happening but that with our human eyes we can’t see. I have an awesome first-hand account from my mother-in-law, who was watching over her unconscious sister in hospice during her last days, and this occurred only a few weeks before last Christmas. She was in her room alone with her and heard voices singing. She thought the radio was on too loud in another patient’s room nearby. She called her husband to listen, but he couldn’t hear it. So she asked him to go see if somebody had a radio on too loud in another patient room. She called her brother, a pastor, to come in and find where that sound was coming from, but he didn’t hear anything either. But for her, the sound got louder. She stood up looking around for it, and came to the foot of her sister’s bed, where she stopped, and the sound began to get even louder. It was clear to her now that she was hearing singing, like a choir. She closed her eyes, and when she did, her “eyes” were opened and she saw a host of innumerable angels surrounding her sister’s bed. And it finally became clear the words she was hearing, “Holy....Holy....Holy....” It was so real that she reached out to touch them. She was in the presence of angels. She was given the privilege of seeing what was happening in the heavenly realm as her sister’s life was fading from this reality to the ultimate reality. She got to see just a little glimpse of what her sister was seeing and would soon see for all eternity. I’ve heard a few other amazing stories from very reputable people lately about seeing into the spirit realm. God is at work, but you know, he always has been. Most of the time our spirit eyes are shut, and a few times God will allow them to be open. Let him open your eyes to the depth of this time, of God actually becoming one of us. And coming here with one purpose in mind.
Teresa
As Mary and Joseph were alone and taking in the wonder of what had happened in the past few hours, they held this newborn baby boy and enjoyed the warmth of the moments that are the first treasured times with your child. A calmness comes over a woman who has her new baby in her arms. I can say, outside of the peace that God himself gives, there is no other peace quite like it for a woman. I would say that humanly, the absolute most contented times I remember in my life are those holding my newborn children. Everything feels like it is absolutely right with the world, that you are right where you were made to be – holding this tiny new life, finally knowing what everybody else meant when they tried to describe the love you would feel for this child. You nodded and smiled, but you didn’t really understand the depth of what they meant until you experienced it for yourself.
Meanwhile, surrounding the town where they are staying, we see a fourth angelic visitation take place in this story, the angel’s visit to the boys and men tending sheep on the night watch that evening around Bethlehem. Dark night, maybe it was overcast, maybe there was some moonlight. They could see flickers of light from the buildings in town. But there in their field were only themselves, and their flock of sheep. I don’t know why, but I’m beginning to find it slightly funny that “boom”, an angel is standing in front of your face out of nowhere and he keeps saying “don’t be afraid!”. If I was out in a field alone in the middle of the night in extreme darkness, and all of a sudden a being immediately just burst into the scene before my eyes, I think smelling salts would be in order, not just a “do not be afraid”. But nevertheless, the angel of the Lord said it. Is there any doubt in your minds by now that if you ever see an angel, he’ll probably say that to you before you faint?
So, once the shepherds regained their composure, they realized it wasn’t dark anymore! There was a radiance, a glow all around them. The really neat thing about all these angelic visitations in this story is that not one of these people questioned that an angel was visiting them. They got scared, but nobody disbelieved that there was an angel there with them. I think in our culture, it would be much harder to convince anyone that we just saw into the spirit realm. However, I truly believe the further that time progresses, the more we will begin to see supernatural things and see into the spirit world. We will be returned to a place of belief. The shepherds believed and they listened to what was being told to them.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
The unlikeliness of the announcement can’t be missed here. God didn’t send the angels to the authorities, the pharisees, the town administrator, the governor, or any king or other ruler. The first place he wanted to tell that his son had arrived was a bunch of shepherds. Everything he has done in this story is unlikely (according to our human understanding), but when looking at the bigger picture it all makes perfect sense. Of course, he would come to the lowly and humble. Of course, he would ask these shepherd boys to come see one like them, a shepherd, the shepherd of their people. Their savior. They were the first to be told that the prophecy of their people had been filled just a short distance from where they stood that very night. There was nothing to merit such a visit to this unlikely audience, except that God delights in humility, in humbling himself to come here, to be born in the nastiest, dirtiest, place. To reaching as far down as it took to get to even the absolute lowest person in our eyes. To be born into the exact stuff he came to set us free from. Filth and dirt, darkness, coldness, aloneness, social prejudices, poverty, oppression... He didn’t just come to earth, he came down as far as one could come, so much so that it would be a very difficult thing for his own people to accept that he was their King, their Messiah. It didn’t fit their fairytale dream of how they decided it would be once he showed up. It didn’t this night, and it never would. He was pure and innocent and holy, yet everybody was so offended by him. He would become a stone to cause many people to stumble. But not the shepherds – not tonight. God chose to announce the Shepherd of his people to these shepherds. He was now one of them, a shepherd.
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Suddenly, the shepherds saw something even more amazing than one angel in front of them, they saw a host, it says they saw the ARMIES of heaven praising God. Now THAT would be an overwhelming sight. I believe their eyes were opened into the spirit realm. They saw what was going on in the heavenly realm. They saw armies, not wimpy little thin blonde metrosexual angels as we so often see portrayed in pictures and movies. They saw warriors. (You men reading this, think "Gladiator" or "300"). They saw the massive strength of the heavenly host, all humbly praising their commander, consumed in total worship of God at that moment. They were witnessing a worship service, church, heaven-style. They were witnessing what every member of heaven was experiencing at that moment. They were given an open window to watch it. A scene no one could ever forget in their lifetime. And very few since that time have been privileged to see into the worship that surrounds the throne of God. Stephen, Paul, and John are a few.
And then, as soon as it had come, it was gone. The glowing light around them was gone and the night was again black around them and they could only hear the bleating of the sheep around them. (I’m thinking the sheep weren’t able to take all this in, because knowing how stupid and afraid sheep are, they would have run away while the shepherds weren’t watching them, scared to death. Thank goodness they weren't shepherding fainting goats.)
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
And it is here we will stop for the weekend. Tomorrow will be the last Sunday before Christmas, and I truly do hope for you it is the most meaningful Sunday that you have experienced this whole year of 2009. I hope that more than ever, you identify with this story in such a personal way that it becomes more than just The Christmas Story. I would also encourage you to watch the movie that came out last year entitled “The Nativity”. It is an amazing Biblically-based movie that just totally brought to life the characters of these events for me, and I can’t wait to watch it again this year! When Perry and I left the theatre last year, we were both in tears and speechless because it was so real to us. I know if you watch Elf, Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, The Family Stone, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, etc., etc., that you can carve out the time to watch the one movie that has been out recently that will encourage you in your faith this Christmas!! Buy it, rent it or borrow it. It is showing on cable TV all the time right now. I want to encourage you to carve out quiet time this week with God and with your family. A time to hear in your mind and see in your mind what these shepherds must have witnessed. These next five days are the last five of this season to truly deeply reflect on why Jesus came to you. What he did by coming to you.
Before ending, I want to share this true story with you. As I said before, I believe in these coming days, we will be allowed to see more and more into this spirit world that the shepherds saw into. Into things that are happening but that with our human eyes we can’t see. I have an awesome first-hand account from my mother-in-law, who was watching over her unconscious sister in hospice during her last days, and this occurred only a few weeks before last Christmas. She was in her room alone with her and heard voices singing. She thought the radio was on too loud in another patient’s room nearby. She called her husband to listen, but he couldn’t hear it. So she asked him to go see if somebody had a radio on too loud in another patient room. She called her brother, a pastor, to come in and find where that sound was coming from, but he didn’t hear anything either. But for her, the sound got louder. She stood up looking around for it, and came to the foot of her sister’s bed, where she stopped, and the sound began to get even louder. It was clear to her now that she was hearing singing, like a choir. She closed her eyes, and when she did, her “eyes” were opened and she saw a host of innumerable angels surrounding her sister’s bed. And it finally became clear the words she was hearing, “Holy....Holy....Holy....” It was so real that she reached out to touch them. She was in the presence of angels. She was given the privilege of seeing what was happening in the heavenly realm as her sister’s life was fading from this reality to the ultimate reality. She got to see just a little glimpse of what her sister was seeing and would soon see for all eternity. I’ve heard a few other amazing stories from very reputable people lately about seeing into the spirit realm. God is at work, but you know, he always has been. Most of the time our spirit eyes are shut, and a few times God will allow them to be open. Let him open your eyes to the depth of this time, of God actually becoming one of us. And coming here with one purpose in mind.
Teresa
Friday, December 18, 2009
Day 16, The Christmas Story, Jesus is Born
Good morning. Today is the day in our study, that day that we see Jesus coming into the world! In a way I am very intimidated to even do these next few days of study, because it seems that nothing I would be able to say in human words would ever convey the depth, the significance, of what happened in those days in history. I just pray that all of our hearts are opened the next few days in a way we haven’t known before during this season. It is something the Holy Spirit himself will have to reveal in each one of us as we go through these next few days, as it always should be.
Yesterday, we learned about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s birthplace, the “house of bread”, and about how miserable the three-day journey must have been for Mary in the late stages of her pregnancy. About it being the cold rainy season when they were on their way to Bethlehem.
So, they have arrived in Bethlehem. The time taken for the journey had taken its toll. The inns were full as other descendents of those from Bethlehem had also been arriving to register for the census. And while in Bethlehem, the time arrived for this young teenage girl...
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
As they looked for a place to stay, Mary was likely already having contractions from the difficulty of the trip. I wonder if she was afraid. She was a young teenage girl in a strange place, and felt the labor pains beginning. She was exhausted after her long, cold journey. When a Jewish woman/girl gave birth, they were attended and helped by a midwife, and by other women, mothers, sisters, etc. But for Mary, no woman would be there to assist her, no mother, no familiar faces of women, no midwife, no one who had ever done this before, and it looked like there was going to be no place to find to stay. Here she was in this town full of strangers with her betrothed Joseph, who had never even seen her unclothed and soon he would have to be the one to deliver her child.
Without fanfare, the Bible doesn’t really give us much picture surrounding those hours in time. All we can gather is that they ended up taking refuge in a stable because there wasn’t any more lodging available. The stable was probably a cave in the rock behind one of the inns, the place where the travelers kept their horses and animals. Where horse manure scented the air, and the absence of a clean environment for a baby was quite obvious. What was going through Mary’s head right then? In her exhaustion, was she just glad to have a place to go to rest, where the winds and rain would not cut through her and she could get dry and maybe build a little fire? Caves are notoriously cold, hovering around 50 degrees, but at least it was dry and warmer than the winds and rain outside. Was she fearful and filled with some sense of panic of the unknown that was about to happen so far away from home and from family?
I believe that Joseph, the Godly man that he is, had early on in this situation, taken it upon himself to protect Mary and care for her as best he could. To follow God’s leading and be obedient and faithful to be Mary’s husband and soon Jesus’ father. I’m sure on their long journey to Bethlehem, they had time to talk and get to know each other much better. I’m sure he built a fire at night to keep her warm as exhaustion gave way to sleep on their journey each night. He felt a responsibility to keep her fed and as warm and as comfortable as possible. And I’m sure as a man, he felt like he was inadequate to the God-sized task that had been set before him.
So this night, as they settled into a cave, did Joseph feel inadequate? Did he feel like a failure for her being here in this nasty place to give birth? Did he feel guilty as she shivered from the cold and rain, as well as from the labor pains? He may have had those thoughts running through his mind, but another thought soon came to the forefront of his mind. “I must deliver this child! Men don’t know how to deliver babies! We’re not even allowed in the room. Just the women are. God I don’t know how to do this. What if I’m not adequate for this either? Do I need to get some hot water? Or boil some? I don’t even know if I can find a spot for her to lay down that isn’t contaminated with horse dung. I can’t believe the timing! I can’t believe that Caesar made us travel here to register and be taxed! How in the world will this ever work out? God I don’t know if I can do this.”
But God’s timing, as well as necessity and responsibility, took over and Joseph did what must be done. He delivered a baby that night. The woman he loved was giving birth to a child that wasn’t his and he alone was there with her. He watched the tiny head crown and saw the little tufts of hair. What an amazing thing! He never dreamed it could be such an amazing thing to watch. And then....Joseph's hands caught this wriggling little tiny, red, wrinkly baby as he made his way into our dark, dirty world. Joseph was the first to touch Jesus. The first to hold him. The one that cut the cord between him and his mother. He saw what men did not ever see – a woman giving birth. And he saw what many through the ages would never see, that this was the birth of the Son of God. What an awesome act of grace that God first handed Jesus to Joseph. The God of the Universe handed his son into the frail, human hands of Joseph, the man chosen to be his step-father, or more appropriately, his father. I believe bonding happened that moment as Joseph took Jesus in his arms, as he gasped his first breath of air, as he cried loudly to rid his tiny lungs of any fluid or mucus, as he wiped him as clean as possible and brought him to Mary. In the presence of a miracle, in the presence of the Son of God, awe overtook him and amidst the smell and the dirt and the sounds of the animals, it all faded away and he just saw Jesus.
When Mary saw him for the first time, in the same way, everything around her faded. All she saw was her baby, all she saw was Jesus. She looked at his fingers, his toes, his nearly microscopic fingernails, she traced the outline of his tiny little ears, and as he slowly calmed from his first vigorous cries, she watched him calm and quieten, and begin to look around quizzically with squinted eyes slowly blinking, taking in his first sights. I was able to be in the room when my granddaughter was born, and I still remember how she looked around with her swollen little eyes right after she was born. Such a tiny little innocent person in such a big, bright, cold world. In between the cries, she would squint, like we do in the morning when the first light hits our eyes and blink and try to focus, try to figure out where we are. Then she would return to wailing.
Then Mary, as was their custom, wrapped her baby in strips of cloth. She swaddled him tightly, to simulate the warmth and tight wrapping of the womb, and he calmed. This felt more familiar to him. She held him close to her in this cold place and he could once again hear the heartbeat he had heard for 9 months. He quieted and lay peacefully in her arms. And Mary and Joseph just sat there in awe staring at him. Faith was again made sight. Although no one around Bethlehem realized it, everything the world had ever known had forever changed in those few moments.
God was now with us. Like us. One of us. Emmanuel...
Just for today, kneel at the manger. So what if you have to smell the smells and endure the dirt? Place yourself there. Feel the shivering cold. Look at a tiny, innocent, dependent, crying, wriggling, helpless newborn. Then look at the only reason he is lying there - for you. Because God wanted to be "with you". How could you not love this precious child? He is your gift.
Before you close this out for the day, please take three more minutes and watch this video:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2034355
Teresa
Yesterday, we learned about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s birthplace, the “house of bread”, and about how miserable the three-day journey must have been for Mary in the late stages of her pregnancy. About it being the cold rainy season when they were on their way to Bethlehem.
So, they have arrived in Bethlehem. The time taken for the journey had taken its toll. The inns were full as other descendents of those from Bethlehem had also been arriving to register for the census. And while in Bethlehem, the time arrived for this young teenage girl...
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
As they looked for a place to stay, Mary was likely already having contractions from the difficulty of the trip. I wonder if she was afraid. She was a young teenage girl in a strange place, and felt the labor pains beginning. She was exhausted after her long, cold journey. When a Jewish woman/girl gave birth, they were attended and helped by a midwife, and by other women, mothers, sisters, etc. But for Mary, no woman would be there to assist her, no mother, no familiar faces of women, no midwife, no one who had ever done this before, and it looked like there was going to be no place to find to stay. Here she was in this town full of strangers with her betrothed Joseph, who had never even seen her unclothed and soon he would have to be the one to deliver her child.
Without fanfare, the Bible doesn’t really give us much picture surrounding those hours in time. All we can gather is that they ended up taking refuge in a stable because there wasn’t any more lodging available. The stable was probably a cave in the rock behind one of the inns, the place where the travelers kept their horses and animals. Where horse manure scented the air, and the absence of a clean environment for a baby was quite obvious. What was going through Mary’s head right then? In her exhaustion, was she just glad to have a place to go to rest, where the winds and rain would not cut through her and she could get dry and maybe build a little fire? Caves are notoriously cold, hovering around 50 degrees, but at least it was dry and warmer than the winds and rain outside. Was she fearful and filled with some sense of panic of the unknown that was about to happen so far away from home and from family?
I believe that Joseph, the Godly man that he is, had early on in this situation, taken it upon himself to protect Mary and care for her as best he could. To follow God’s leading and be obedient and faithful to be Mary’s husband and soon Jesus’ father. I’m sure on their long journey to Bethlehem, they had time to talk and get to know each other much better. I’m sure he built a fire at night to keep her warm as exhaustion gave way to sleep on their journey each night. He felt a responsibility to keep her fed and as warm and as comfortable as possible. And I’m sure as a man, he felt like he was inadequate to the God-sized task that had been set before him.
So this night, as they settled into a cave, did Joseph feel inadequate? Did he feel like a failure for her being here in this nasty place to give birth? Did he feel guilty as she shivered from the cold and rain, as well as from the labor pains? He may have had those thoughts running through his mind, but another thought soon came to the forefront of his mind. “I must deliver this child! Men don’t know how to deliver babies! We’re not even allowed in the room. Just the women are. God I don’t know how to do this. What if I’m not adequate for this either? Do I need to get some hot water? Or boil some? I don’t even know if I can find a spot for her to lay down that isn’t contaminated with horse dung. I can’t believe the timing! I can’t believe that Caesar made us travel here to register and be taxed! How in the world will this ever work out? God I don’t know if I can do this.”
But God’s timing, as well as necessity and responsibility, took over and Joseph did what must be done. He delivered a baby that night. The woman he loved was giving birth to a child that wasn’t his and he alone was there with her. He watched the tiny head crown and saw the little tufts of hair. What an amazing thing! He never dreamed it could be such an amazing thing to watch. And then....Joseph's hands caught this wriggling little tiny, red, wrinkly baby as he made his way into our dark, dirty world. Joseph was the first to touch Jesus. The first to hold him. The one that cut the cord between him and his mother. He saw what men did not ever see – a woman giving birth. And he saw what many through the ages would never see, that this was the birth of the Son of God. What an awesome act of grace that God first handed Jesus to Joseph. The God of the Universe handed his son into the frail, human hands of Joseph, the man chosen to be his step-father, or more appropriately, his father. I believe bonding happened that moment as Joseph took Jesus in his arms, as he gasped his first breath of air, as he cried loudly to rid his tiny lungs of any fluid or mucus, as he wiped him as clean as possible and brought him to Mary. In the presence of a miracle, in the presence of the Son of God, awe overtook him and amidst the smell and the dirt and the sounds of the animals, it all faded away and he just saw Jesus.
When Mary saw him for the first time, in the same way, everything around her faded. All she saw was her baby, all she saw was Jesus. She looked at his fingers, his toes, his nearly microscopic fingernails, she traced the outline of his tiny little ears, and as he slowly calmed from his first vigorous cries, she watched him calm and quieten, and begin to look around quizzically with squinted eyes slowly blinking, taking in his first sights. I was able to be in the room when my granddaughter was born, and I still remember how she looked around with her swollen little eyes right after she was born. Such a tiny little innocent person in such a big, bright, cold world. In between the cries, she would squint, like we do in the morning when the first light hits our eyes and blink and try to focus, try to figure out where we are. Then she would return to wailing.
Then Mary, as was their custom, wrapped her baby in strips of cloth. She swaddled him tightly, to simulate the warmth and tight wrapping of the womb, and he calmed. This felt more familiar to him. She held him close to her in this cold place and he could once again hear the heartbeat he had heard for 9 months. He quieted and lay peacefully in her arms. And Mary and Joseph just sat there in awe staring at him. Faith was again made sight. Although no one around Bethlehem realized it, everything the world had ever known had forever changed in those few moments.
God was now with us. Like us. One of us. Emmanuel...
Just for today, kneel at the manger. So what if you have to smell the smells and endure the dirt? Place yourself there. Feel the shivering cold. Look at a tiny, innocent, dependent, crying, wriggling, helpless newborn. Then look at the only reason he is lying there - for you. Because God wanted to be "with you". How could you not love this precious child? He is your gift.
Before you close this out for the day, please take three more minutes and watch this video:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2034355
Teresa
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Day 15, The Christmas Story, The Journey to Bethlehem
Good morning. Yesterday we studied Zechariah’s speech being restored and the life of faith that he now exhibited after his time of silence. Today, we are actually getting near the birth of Christ! I’m shocked – because I’m so long winded, that we might actually be having him born before the 25th! Miracle! But as usual, I’ll just keep going and stop where God says stop for the day and who knows what will happen!
Luke 2
1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his wife, who was now obviously pregnant.
This will be one of those days of historical background, but will be necessary to the rest of the story, so bear with me, because the good stuff is soon to come.
A regional census leads Joseph and his betrothed, Mary, to the city of David, better known as Bethlehem. The decree had come from Caesar Augustus, better known as Octavian, who ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. The administrator of the census was Quirinius, governor of Syria. The census was most likely in order for tax purposes. I would imagine the Roman occupation of their land would have caused the Jews great bitterness toward paying them taxes. Although a lot of scholars argue that Joseph wouldn’t have gone to his ancestral home, it does make sense that the Roman authorities would seek to keep things peaceful and act in accordance with their tribal culture. A journey to the ancestral home would have fit Jewish practice, so that the custom was done in a culturally inoffensive manner (2 Sam 24). This was important, since the tax itself would have been a painful reminder of Israel's position before Rome.
Bethlehem has hot summers and cold winters, sort of like we do here in Tennessee. 70%of their rainfall occurs from December through March. So add cold to wet and rainy, and add traveling in it for three days, and you get chilled to the bone cold.
From Nazareth to Bethlehem was about a ninety mile trip when Samaria was bypassed. Jews generally avoided going through Samaria since they were basically enemies. (That’s a whole different study.!) So, this journey would have taken around three days! The scripture says Mary is “obviously” pregnant. You know, I wondered as I read this, how far along she actually was. If she endured a three-day journey on foot and on the back of a donkey, (traveling 30 miles a day!) it is quite plausible that this would have induced labor, even earlier than she was expecting. Anybody that’s ever had a baby has heard other women tell them to walk around a lot, in hopes of inducing labor. I cannot imagine Mary’s discomfort for these three long days. At the end of pregnancy, your back hurts, you certainly move at a snail’s pace, the baby is pushing up on your ribcage making it more difficult to breath. You have to go potty EVERY 15 minutes. There is NO way I could have ridden on a donkey before I had my last child, because Sarah Beth was so long and big, and I was so short-waisted that I truly believe she hooked her toes around my lower ribs like a monkey would and hung upside down, and occasionally push up on the barbells to stretch - agony. If I did sit, it would have to be bowed backward just to have breathing room! It is a medical fact that your heart is enlarged and working overtime during those last weeks. You are exhausted. Add to that the cold weather and the rainy season, well, that adds up to complete misery for a very pregnant woman.
I find it interesting that the number of days travel would have been three. Three is so interwoven through the Bible and is so significant in so many things. The three of the Trinity, 33 the age of Jesus when he began ministry, three days in the belly of a whale, Jesus was buried and raised again in 3 days, and I could go on and on (again, a whole ‘nother study). Even pregnancy by modern science is now divided into three “trimesters”.
But God had planned it this way, because a prophecy had stated in Micah 5:2 the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral town.
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."
. IEverything is subject to the plan and purpose of God and to his timing and to his Sovereigntyn Proverbs you may remember the verse that says he turns the hearts of kings. Remember the story of how he hardened Pharaoh’s heart? And in this case, it was the Romans, the authorities who sought to subdue and control the Jews. Caesar had made it law that there would be a census taken of all the known world (in this case, the Roman Empire). And during Quirinius’s term as governor, he administered it. But, ironically, the move of the authorities to take this census and tax the people at this particular time in history, orchestrated (even though they didn’t realize it) by God himself, would bring Joseph, Mary and their unborn baby, the Messiah, straight into the town where God had promised so long ago that he would be born. Every last detail does not escape the notice of God. It was in Bethlehem that David had been born, and now the "eternal king" would be born in this very same town. Royalty, a "King of kings", was soon to enter human history. Bethlehem means "house of bread". Do you remember the day we studied Nazareth and how the "Living Water" was sent to be raised in a town so needy of water in its dry, arid region. And today, we can now see that the "Bread of Life" was prophesied to be born in a town that means "house of bread"! I think that is so cool that God has such awesome little details. And sometimes I wonder why Jews can't see it? Why is it not obvious to them that Jesus is truly their Messiah? I guess so their eyes would be blind and we Gentiles would be offered the same salvation that they are!
When God has a plan, there is no struggling on our part to force it to happen. It falls into perfect timing, like pieces in a puzzle, effortlessly because you have the Holy Spirit with you. We have all tried to make things happen, make things be like we thought God would have them. But in our wildest dreams, we can never know the ways of God. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And sometimes it may take us on a long, uncomfortable journey to get us to the place that he is ready to fulfill his promise in his time. Remember, He did not even spare this discomfort on Mary or Joseph, the very people chosen to raise his son.
As you journey to the place God is preparing for you, do not assume all is not well if the journey seems difficult at times. He will still prepare the way ahead of you, still bring you to the right place at the right time, with ways beyond our own means, ways that we could never dream of. And out of the long journey will in time come a treasure, as we are soon to see.
Teresa
Luke 2
1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his wife, who was now obviously pregnant.
This will be one of those days of historical background, but will be necessary to the rest of the story, so bear with me, because the good stuff is soon to come.
A regional census leads Joseph and his betrothed, Mary, to the city of David, better known as Bethlehem. The decree had come from Caesar Augustus, better known as Octavian, who ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. The administrator of the census was Quirinius, governor of Syria. The census was most likely in order for tax purposes. I would imagine the Roman occupation of their land would have caused the Jews great bitterness toward paying them taxes. Although a lot of scholars argue that Joseph wouldn’t have gone to his ancestral home, it does make sense that the Roman authorities would seek to keep things peaceful and act in accordance with their tribal culture. A journey to the ancestral home would have fit Jewish practice, so that the custom was done in a culturally inoffensive manner (2 Sam 24). This was important, since the tax itself would have been a painful reminder of Israel's position before Rome.
Bethlehem has hot summers and cold winters, sort of like we do here in Tennessee. 70%of their rainfall occurs from December through March. So add cold to wet and rainy, and add traveling in it for three days, and you get chilled to the bone cold.
From Nazareth to Bethlehem was about a ninety mile trip when Samaria was bypassed. Jews generally avoided going through Samaria since they were basically enemies. (That’s a whole different study.!) So, this journey would have taken around three days! The scripture says Mary is “obviously” pregnant. You know, I wondered as I read this, how far along she actually was. If she endured a three-day journey on foot and on the back of a donkey, (traveling 30 miles a day!) it is quite plausible that this would have induced labor, even earlier than she was expecting. Anybody that’s ever had a baby has heard other women tell them to walk around a lot, in hopes of inducing labor. I cannot imagine Mary’s discomfort for these three long days. At the end of pregnancy, your back hurts, you certainly move at a snail’s pace, the baby is pushing up on your ribcage making it more difficult to breath. You have to go potty EVERY 15 minutes. There is NO way I could have ridden on a donkey before I had my last child, because Sarah Beth was so long and big, and I was so short-waisted that I truly believe she hooked her toes around my lower ribs like a monkey would and hung upside down, and occasionally push up on the barbells to stretch - agony. If I did sit, it would have to be bowed backward just to have breathing room! It is a medical fact that your heart is enlarged and working overtime during those last weeks. You are exhausted. Add to that the cold weather and the rainy season, well, that adds up to complete misery for a very pregnant woman.
I find it interesting that the number of days travel would have been three. Three is so interwoven through the Bible and is so significant in so many things. The three of the Trinity, 33 the age of Jesus when he began ministry, three days in the belly of a whale, Jesus was buried and raised again in 3 days, and I could go on and on (again, a whole ‘nother study). Even pregnancy by modern science is now divided into three “trimesters”.
But God had planned it this way, because a prophecy had stated in Micah 5:2 the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral town.
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."
. IEverything is subject to the plan and purpose of God and to his timing and to his Sovereigntyn Proverbs you may remember the verse that says he turns the hearts of kings. Remember the story of how he hardened Pharaoh’s heart? And in this case, it was the Romans, the authorities who sought to subdue and control the Jews. Caesar had made it law that there would be a census taken of all the known world (in this case, the Roman Empire). And during Quirinius’s term as governor, he administered it. But, ironically, the move of the authorities to take this census and tax the people at this particular time in history, orchestrated (even though they didn’t realize it) by God himself, would bring Joseph, Mary and their unborn baby, the Messiah, straight into the town where God had promised so long ago that he would be born. Every last detail does not escape the notice of God. It was in Bethlehem that David had been born, and now the "eternal king" would be born in this very same town. Royalty, a "King of kings", was soon to enter human history. Bethlehem means "house of bread". Do you remember the day we studied Nazareth and how the "Living Water" was sent to be raised in a town so needy of water in its dry, arid region. And today, we can now see that the "Bread of Life" was prophesied to be born in a town that means "house of bread"! I think that is so cool that God has such awesome little details. And sometimes I wonder why Jews can't see it? Why is it not obvious to them that Jesus is truly their Messiah? I guess so their eyes would be blind and we Gentiles would be offered the same salvation that they are!
When God has a plan, there is no struggling on our part to force it to happen. It falls into perfect timing, like pieces in a puzzle, effortlessly because you have the Holy Spirit with you. We have all tried to make things happen, make things be like we thought God would have them. But in our wildest dreams, we can never know the ways of God. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And sometimes it may take us on a long, uncomfortable journey to get us to the place that he is ready to fulfill his promise in his time. Remember, He did not even spare this discomfort on Mary or Joseph, the very people chosen to raise his son.
As you journey to the place God is preparing for you, do not assume all is not well if the journey seems difficult at times. He will still prepare the way ahead of you, still bring you to the right place at the right time, with ways beyond our own means, ways that we could never dream of. And out of the long journey will in time come a treasure, as we are soon to see.
Teresa
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Day 14, The Christmas Story, A Vision for your Child
Good morning. Yesterday, we learned about the birth of John, and how it was that Zechariah was given his voice and his hearing back at John’s circumcision and naming ceremony. The people around him knew that John must be a special child because of what they had seen God do that day. Upon God restoring his voice, he also filled him with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was already upon Elizabeth and his son John, since before John’s birth. We think of the Holy Spirit only being active after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, but here we have it. He’s always been around and active, and always will be. The verses immediately following that tell us what Zechariah’s focus now was. He immediately had this to say:
67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: (When we encounter God in a personal way, we will open up our mouths and speak. Our hearts will be full and will overflow and we can’t help but talk about it.
)
68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior
from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.
It sounds like to me the time of quiet had done Zechariah a lot of good. He wasn’t calling his son, John, the savior, but rather was acknowledging that God had indeed done what he told him he would, and that it was all a part of the plan for the Savior’s imminent coming, within six months actually! The same Zechariah that Gabriel had prophesied to and responded with doubt, now prophesies himself over the people around him that day! This day, as Zechariah stared into the face of his one-week old little baby boy, he stared into the physical manifestation of God’s promise to him. It had now come to be. Faith had become sight. The years of waiting for a child had passed, nine months of waiting for the pregnancy had passed, a week of waiting after his birth had passed, and now on this special day, Zechariah saw the fullness of what the Lord was doing. It was almost as if his eyes were fully opened along with his mouth and ears. I’m sure that Zechariah had listened quietly around Mary and Elizabeth as the spent time together talking of what their God had done in their lives and the miracles and the angels, and things that were nothing short of divine. And when we are left in silence as he was, there is a lot of thinking and pondering time.
Join Zechariah at this overwhelmingly precious and tender time as he holds his son and begins to speak this prophecy over his son.
76 “And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
77 You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
I think Zechariah’s time of reflection prepared him to be the father John was going to need to be this man God called him to be. John became a strong man, full of purpose, not wavering, very focused, and very different from his peers. That happens when God has a calling on someone’s life, and also when those around him, nurture him in that calling.
80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.
If you are a Christian and a parent, what do you see as God’s vision for your child? Do you truly see his truly everlasting eternal vision and purpose for your child and those whose lives he will touch to be soccer on Monday, dance on Tuesday, music lessons on Wednesday, karate on Thursday, football on Friday, tournaments on Sunday, and every other imaginable kind of busyness during any available free times? Do you see it as making sure they get as much as everybody else under the tree this year? Do you see it as making sure they “succeed, achieve, compete, win, get a great job, go to the right school”? Do you see it as making life as busy and performance oriented as possible, and to look out for themselves above everything else? Some of you might. It is, after all, a rampant epidemic in our self-focused, achievement-oriented culture, enslaving our children with a spirit of busyness and self-satisfaction. Or do you let them see you pray on your knees, let them catch you reading your Bible, choosing church over those endless Sunday travel teams, watch you give away what you have instead of hoard it, watch you spend time building relationships, watch you parents loving each other, who sit and play games with them and do puzzles and spend time with them, not a computer screen, not a TV screen, not in shuttling them to the next activity while driving through McDonald’s.
God as our Father is totally about relationship with us. “Be still and know that I am God” is only one of countless verses in the Bible where God stresses quietness and alone time with him, relationship, friendship with him. Are you passing that virtue on to your children? What is it you are speaking over them with every action you take or every word you say to them? As as always, I ask myself the same questions, because once your children are grown as mine are you have a lot of regrets and see what you wish you’d done differently.
How can we pass onto our children wisdom unless we have attained it, lessons learned from life experiences unless we have chosen to learn them, the importance of a close walk with God unless we ourselves have a close walk with God, the vision for their future if we do not have one for them or ourselves, faith to be our provider when our true faith is in our job and our Visa card, hope for eternity if we do not even have hope for making ends meet, true joy in living unless we have found the author of true joy? The answer is we can pass no abundant life, nothing of value onto our children if that virtue doesn’t already reside in us. You cannot give what you do not possess. God allowed Zechariah to grow in virtue so he could raise a virtuous young man. And when he again had his voice, he from that point began a life of speaking over John God’s purpose for his life. His manner of speech changed from doubt to faith and prophecy. And John then as an adult pointed people to Christ everywhere he went. Just like God wants us to. Just like he wants our children to.
The absolute three best gifts you can give your son or daughter this Christmas are first of all, Jesus himself, secondly you can give them you, thirdly you can give them your time.
Take one step today to center your life and the life of your family in the middle of purpose – God’s purpose.
Teresa
67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: (When we encounter God in a personal way, we will open up our mouths and speak. Our hearts will be full and will overflow and we can’t help but talk about it.
)
68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior
from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.
It sounds like to me the time of quiet had done Zechariah a lot of good. He wasn’t calling his son, John, the savior, but rather was acknowledging that God had indeed done what he told him he would, and that it was all a part of the plan for the Savior’s imminent coming, within six months actually! The same Zechariah that Gabriel had prophesied to and responded with doubt, now prophesies himself over the people around him that day! This day, as Zechariah stared into the face of his one-week old little baby boy, he stared into the physical manifestation of God’s promise to him. It had now come to be. Faith had become sight. The years of waiting for a child had passed, nine months of waiting for the pregnancy had passed, a week of waiting after his birth had passed, and now on this special day, Zechariah saw the fullness of what the Lord was doing. It was almost as if his eyes were fully opened along with his mouth and ears. I’m sure that Zechariah had listened quietly around Mary and Elizabeth as the spent time together talking of what their God had done in their lives and the miracles and the angels, and things that were nothing short of divine. And when we are left in silence as he was, there is a lot of thinking and pondering time.
Join Zechariah at this overwhelmingly precious and tender time as he holds his son and begins to speak this prophecy over his son.
76 “And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
77 You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
I think Zechariah’s time of reflection prepared him to be the father John was going to need to be this man God called him to be. John became a strong man, full of purpose, not wavering, very focused, and very different from his peers. That happens when God has a calling on someone’s life, and also when those around him, nurture him in that calling.
80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.
If you are a Christian and a parent, what do you see as God’s vision for your child? Do you truly see his truly everlasting eternal vision and purpose for your child and those whose lives he will touch to be soccer on Monday, dance on Tuesday, music lessons on Wednesday, karate on Thursday, football on Friday, tournaments on Sunday, and every other imaginable kind of busyness during any available free times? Do you see it as making sure they get as much as everybody else under the tree this year? Do you see it as making sure they “succeed, achieve, compete, win, get a great job, go to the right school”? Do you see it as making life as busy and performance oriented as possible, and to look out for themselves above everything else? Some of you might. It is, after all, a rampant epidemic in our self-focused, achievement-oriented culture, enslaving our children with a spirit of busyness and self-satisfaction. Or do you let them see you pray on your knees, let them catch you reading your Bible, choosing church over those endless Sunday travel teams, watch you give away what you have instead of hoard it, watch you spend time building relationships, watch you parents loving each other, who sit and play games with them and do puzzles and spend time with them, not a computer screen, not a TV screen, not in shuttling them to the next activity while driving through McDonald’s.
God as our Father is totally about relationship with us. “Be still and know that I am God” is only one of countless verses in the Bible where God stresses quietness and alone time with him, relationship, friendship with him. Are you passing that virtue on to your children? What is it you are speaking over them with every action you take or every word you say to them? As as always, I ask myself the same questions, because once your children are grown as mine are you have a lot of regrets and see what you wish you’d done differently.
How can we pass onto our children wisdom unless we have attained it, lessons learned from life experiences unless we have chosen to learn them, the importance of a close walk with God unless we ourselves have a close walk with God, the vision for their future if we do not have one for them or ourselves, faith to be our provider when our true faith is in our job and our Visa card, hope for eternity if we do not even have hope for making ends meet, true joy in living unless we have found the author of true joy? The answer is we can pass no abundant life, nothing of value onto our children if that virtue doesn’t already reside in us. You cannot give what you do not possess. God allowed Zechariah to grow in virtue so he could raise a virtuous young man. And when he again had his voice, he from that point began a life of speaking over John God’s purpose for his life. His manner of speech changed from doubt to faith and prophecy. And John then as an adult pointed people to Christ everywhere he went. Just like God wants us to. Just like he wants our children to.
The absolute three best gifts you can give your son or daughter this Christmas are first of all, Jesus himself, secondly you can give them you, thirdly you can give them your time.
Take one step today to center your life and the life of your family in the middle of purpose – God’s purpose.
Teresa
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Day 13,The Christmas Story, An End to the Silence
Good Tuesday morning. Yesterday, we got a small glimpse into the life of Joseph, and the instrumental part God asked him to play in the life of his son. I saw some really good things about Joseph I hadn’t seen before. Today, we go back to Elizabeth and Zechariah. As you remember, Mary had rushed to visit Elizabeth after Gabriel had come to her, and she spent about three months there and then returned home. So, that is where we pick up today. Mary has gone back home, probably about 3 months along in her pregnancy now. Home to a questioning family. Home to a Joseph that has been visited by an angel. Home to a man who has allowed God to change his plans. But also, home with a deeper knowledge of the Lord, as she and Elizabeth spent time together, no doubt including the Lord in their times.
Luke 1: 57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her. 59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony.
Elizabeth gave birth to a son. Everyone in town was rejoicing with her and Zechariah that the Lord had been merciful to her and given her a child. Eight days after birth is when the Jewish ritual ceremony of circumcision is performed. I learned that it is one of the three eternal covenants Jews hold as sacred with God, these three being the Sabbath, the rainbow (as the promise after the flood), and circumcision. It is something God instituted with Abraham and that every Jewish baby boy since that time has followed. It is not a medical procedure so much as it is for us Gentiles, as it is not performed in the hospital by a random doctor before your little boy ever goes home. It is a spiritual ceremony, with friends and family invited, gifts given. It is truly their dedication ceremony of this child to God. It is performed by a religious man who is trained in performing the ritual of circumcision. The son is not named until the circumcision, and he is named by the father. One fact I found very interesting is that before the circumcision, the “mohel” (the man who performs the ceremony), takes a piece of gauze and dips it in wine, then places the gauze in the mouth of the baby. I assume this is to give the child some sense of anesthesia to ease the pain. However, in John’s case, the angel instructed that “he must never touch wine”. I don’t know if that included the circumcision ceremony or not! The other interesting thing that modern medicine now confirms is that a newborn’s ability to clot blood properly from bleeding too much is only fully intact after a week of life. Isn’t that cool how God knew EXACTLY what he was doing even from a medical standpoint that we wouldn’t find out for centuries? Remember, God is the God of science, of mathematics, and of all the laws of creation.
They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!” 61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.”
Zechariah was still deaf and mute. He was unable to name his own child at this most special of times in his life. Probably the only child he would ever have, a child given by God, and his duty as the father would be unable to be carried out. They looked to Elizabeth and she said “his name is John”. They questioned her, because it was not the woman’s place to name the baby and said there is no one in your family by that name. So, they make hand signals to Zechariah.
62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
Zechariah had been silent for 9 months, and even though still mute, in obedience he chose to name the child what Gabriel had told him to name him – John. He communicated this by writing it on a tablet. And in that momentous act of faith, God instantly opened his mouth again.
65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.
So the story began with Zechariah and, at this time, has come back around to him again, after 9 long months of silence, unable to hear, unable to speak, watching the world go by him but not really able to partake in it except as a spectator. Even when the child was born, he couldn’t go share the news, couldn’t shout out proudly that he had a son. And all because he questioned God, he doubted, he placed circumstance above faith, because he needed proof that an omnipotent God would actually do what he said.
But there was an end to the silence. Because we serve a merciful God, there is always an end to the trial, and in God’s perfect timing, He leads to victory and brings us back around to the path he had originally designed for us. The Bible says God doesn’t punish us as our sins deserve. He does not put on us more than we can bear. He is redemptive in his discipline. But boy does he take us up to the edge sometimes!! I believe this time was a time of deeper growth in Zechariah’s relationship with God. A time when he was taken to end of himself, a time he was “taken out of the game”, a time he watched but had to keep silent. A time for God to work and for Zechariah to be quiet and learn. And at the appointed and perfect time, Zechariah chose faith this time over doubt. Remember the angel said he would not speak until the child was born. The child was born over a week ago and Zechariah was still unable to speak. Would that mess with your faith? A room full of loud, happy, people, eating and giving gifts and there Zechariah is in total silence, reminded again of the consequence of his unbelief. Unable to join in the sounds of the laughter and the chatting, the family and friends here to celebrate with him.
But, regardless of those circumstances, he knew this time he would choose faith. And he did... Unable to speak, he still wrote John’s name on a tablet. “His name is John.” The authority of the head of the household had spoken, even without words, in accordance with the leadership of God. And because he acted in faith over his family, God once again opened his mouth. His time of silence was over. His time of learning this particular lesson had come to an end. And he did not leave the circumcision ceremony unable to speak. He spent the rest of the day rejoicing with his friends and relatives, for God had restored what he had temporarily removed so that He Himself could be glorified. And as he looked back at this day of dedication of his child to God, it would also be a day to remember Zechariah’s dedication to God and being released from the long silence.
I can so relate to Zechariah. If I were one of the characters in the story I would probably be him. Religious, yes, devoted to the church, yes, but when it comes to giving God my total trust, my total faith, my total self, I fall so short. I ask for proof. And as a result, God must silence me over and over again so that I can learn the lesson that needs to be learned for that time. He always brings me through it and restores me again though. If you are walking through a time of silence maybe the question is not “God why aren’t you fixing this situation?”, but rather “God what is it you are wanting to teach me during this experience?”
God’s timing is so perfect. I asked him to give me a dream last night about something I was struggling with and he did. And what he showed me was exactly what I said above – that I was asking the wrong question. I was asking for a situation to be fixed instead of for my “foundation” that the situation was built on to be fixed.
God spent 9 months rebuilding Zechariah’s foundation. He would now be able to be the Godly, believing, trusting father to John that God required him to be in order to properly raise the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Messiah of his people. When he spoke to his son, it would be words of faith and trust, words of thanksgiving to God, words that would grow his son into the man God intended that he be, strong, bold and believing for the Kingdom of God.
So, in your time of silence, maybe feeling like God isn’t there or isn’t talking, or you just can’t hear him, re-assess the question you’ve been asking him. Maybe it’s the wrong question you’ve been asking. Maybe he’s wanting to teach you something during this time, and you are just looking for relief so you can go on in your same old ways.
But this is for sure. When you ask God, he will communicate with you, he will teach you, he will take you through your situation and you will come through it and he will be glorified, just as he was among the people of Zechariah’s town that day.
Once again in silence, Teresa :)
Luke 1: 57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her. 59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony.
Elizabeth gave birth to a son. Everyone in town was rejoicing with her and Zechariah that the Lord had been merciful to her and given her a child. Eight days after birth is when the Jewish ritual ceremony of circumcision is performed. I learned that it is one of the three eternal covenants Jews hold as sacred with God, these three being the Sabbath, the rainbow (as the promise after the flood), and circumcision. It is something God instituted with Abraham and that every Jewish baby boy since that time has followed. It is not a medical procedure so much as it is for us Gentiles, as it is not performed in the hospital by a random doctor before your little boy ever goes home. It is a spiritual ceremony, with friends and family invited, gifts given. It is truly their dedication ceremony of this child to God. It is performed by a religious man who is trained in performing the ritual of circumcision. The son is not named until the circumcision, and he is named by the father. One fact I found very interesting is that before the circumcision, the “mohel” (the man who performs the ceremony), takes a piece of gauze and dips it in wine, then places the gauze in the mouth of the baby. I assume this is to give the child some sense of anesthesia to ease the pain. However, in John’s case, the angel instructed that “he must never touch wine”. I don’t know if that included the circumcision ceremony or not! The other interesting thing that modern medicine now confirms is that a newborn’s ability to clot blood properly from bleeding too much is only fully intact after a week of life. Isn’t that cool how God knew EXACTLY what he was doing even from a medical standpoint that we wouldn’t find out for centuries? Remember, God is the God of science, of mathematics, and of all the laws of creation.
They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!” 61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.”
Zechariah was still deaf and mute. He was unable to name his own child at this most special of times in his life. Probably the only child he would ever have, a child given by God, and his duty as the father would be unable to be carried out. They looked to Elizabeth and she said “his name is John”. They questioned her, because it was not the woman’s place to name the baby and said there is no one in your family by that name. So, they make hand signals to Zechariah.
62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
Zechariah had been silent for 9 months, and even though still mute, in obedience he chose to name the child what Gabriel had told him to name him – John. He communicated this by writing it on a tablet. And in that momentous act of faith, God instantly opened his mouth again.
65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.
So the story began with Zechariah and, at this time, has come back around to him again, after 9 long months of silence, unable to hear, unable to speak, watching the world go by him but not really able to partake in it except as a spectator. Even when the child was born, he couldn’t go share the news, couldn’t shout out proudly that he had a son. And all because he questioned God, he doubted, he placed circumstance above faith, because he needed proof that an omnipotent God would actually do what he said.
But there was an end to the silence. Because we serve a merciful God, there is always an end to the trial, and in God’s perfect timing, He leads to victory and brings us back around to the path he had originally designed for us. The Bible says God doesn’t punish us as our sins deserve. He does not put on us more than we can bear. He is redemptive in his discipline. But boy does he take us up to the edge sometimes!! I believe this time was a time of deeper growth in Zechariah’s relationship with God. A time when he was taken to end of himself, a time he was “taken out of the game”, a time he watched but had to keep silent. A time for God to work and for Zechariah to be quiet and learn. And at the appointed and perfect time, Zechariah chose faith this time over doubt. Remember the angel said he would not speak until the child was born. The child was born over a week ago and Zechariah was still unable to speak. Would that mess with your faith? A room full of loud, happy, people, eating and giving gifts and there Zechariah is in total silence, reminded again of the consequence of his unbelief. Unable to join in the sounds of the laughter and the chatting, the family and friends here to celebrate with him.
But, regardless of those circumstances, he knew this time he would choose faith. And he did... Unable to speak, he still wrote John’s name on a tablet. “His name is John.” The authority of the head of the household had spoken, even without words, in accordance with the leadership of God. And because he acted in faith over his family, God once again opened his mouth. His time of silence was over. His time of learning this particular lesson had come to an end. And he did not leave the circumcision ceremony unable to speak. He spent the rest of the day rejoicing with his friends and relatives, for God had restored what he had temporarily removed so that He Himself could be glorified. And as he looked back at this day of dedication of his child to God, it would also be a day to remember Zechariah’s dedication to God and being released from the long silence.
I can so relate to Zechariah. If I were one of the characters in the story I would probably be him. Religious, yes, devoted to the church, yes, but when it comes to giving God my total trust, my total faith, my total self, I fall so short. I ask for proof. And as a result, God must silence me over and over again so that I can learn the lesson that needs to be learned for that time. He always brings me through it and restores me again though. If you are walking through a time of silence maybe the question is not “God why aren’t you fixing this situation?”, but rather “God what is it you are wanting to teach me during this experience?”
God’s timing is so perfect. I asked him to give me a dream last night about something I was struggling with and he did. And what he showed me was exactly what I said above – that I was asking the wrong question. I was asking for a situation to be fixed instead of for my “foundation” that the situation was built on to be fixed.
God spent 9 months rebuilding Zechariah’s foundation. He would now be able to be the Godly, believing, trusting father to John that God required him to be in order to properly raise the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Messiah of his people. When he spoke to his son, it would be words of faith and trust, words of thanksgiving to God, words that would grow his son into the man God intended that he be, strong, bold and believing for the Kingdom of God.
So, in your time of silence, maybe feeling like God isn’t there or isn’t talking, or you just can’t hear him, re-assess the question you’ve been asking him. Maybe it’s the wrong question you’ve been asking. Maybe he’s wanting to teach you something during this time, and you are just looking for relief so you can go on in your same old ways.
But this is for sure. When you ask God, he will communicate with you, he will teach you, he will take you through your situation and you will come through it and he will be glorified, just as he was among the people of Zechariah’s town that day.
Once again in silence, Teresa :)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Day 12, Joseph - The Christmas Story
Good Monday morning. I trust you had a great weekend. I truly think studying this is helping me not get caught up in the frenzy of the season and that is a great thing! I hope it is that way for you too. Financially, this is a slim year for Christmas for many of us, but I think even that is by design, so as to take our eyes off the material and place them on the spiritual meaning this time holds for us. Let’s look at it as an act of grace. For the past, at least 10, years, I have usually gotten sick at Christmas, and I think it is from the stress of getting caught up in the dizzying activity of the season.
Today, we are going to jump over to Matthew, chapter 1, since Luke did not record the story of Joseph. Matthew wrote about Joseph and what happened to him before Mary gave birth to Jesus.
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
The Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man. Joseph was now already in a legally binding contract of betrothal with Mary. And he found that his fiancée was pregnant by some person other than himself! It may have been before she left to see Elizabeth, or after she returned three months later, that she had “the talk” with Joseph. In my mind, I think she probably told him before she left, and that it gave Joseph the time he needed with the Lord to deal with it before she came back home from Elizabeth’s house three months later. Regardless, according to Jewish law, any man who was engaged to a woman who turned out not to be a virgin, was entitled to bring evidence against her and she could be tried publicly and possibly stoned to death (Deut 22:20-21). He could also divorce her, as during the betrothal period they were legally bound together already and the only thing that could break the betrothal was death or divorce. Interestingly, those that keep Jewish law were considered righteous. But God saw a different righteousness in Joseph. HIS kind of righteousness – grace that went beyond the law. Joseph did not want her publicly humiliated, and he certainly did not want to have her stoned to death. So, he decided to quietly divorce her. Just that one act speaks volumes to me of Joseph’s character. His very manhood and ego had been insulted, his fiancée was pregnant, it wasn’t his child, he would be ridiculed by his peers, and probably encouraged by his buddies to “teach her a lesson” and save face! What a humiliating situation for a man to be in! Some of you men reading this can probably imagine the kind of struggle this brought up in Joseph. Trying to be a Godly man, and then this! Why? Why was God doing this to him?? He was a righteous man. But something within Joseph’s spirit, a man in the lineage of David (and Bathsheba), found grace for the situation, and put aside his own ego and reputation, in Mary’s behalf. Divorcing her quietly was an act of mercy on his part. An act that was the very picture of the child he would soon raise.
BUT.....now here comes another angel! Zechariah, Mary and now Joseph. Joseph’s visitation was different in that it was in a dream. However, do not discount the significance, as dreams and visions have carried an incredible amount of weight all through Jewish history. (Look at how big a part dreams played in the other Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, among countless others.) In our day, we can tend to discount dreams and attribute them to the pizza we ate the night before. And some of them are just that! However, I truly believe God is still active in our dream life. I have had many dreams that were definitely God speaking to me. See, when we dream, our logical conscious mind is at rest, and I believe that sometimes, people like me would explain away things in the daytime with our mind, but at night God has full access to my mind. He’s shown me some amazing things at night. And what he showed Joseph that night was an angelic visitation, a night vision, another divine intervention. No doubt, Joseph’s mind was churning and reeling and trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation, and when he finally fell asleep one night after having toiled through an unending torrent of thoughts and solutions all day, his mind became available and quieted so that he could hear the Holy Spirit. And this dream would not be the end of Joseph’s dreaming, as you will see later.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The angel identified Joseph by his name, but also by his lineage, son of David. By this point in the story, I’m coming to realize that no word spoken by an angel is insignificant! I believe each word carried weight, such as the fact that he greeted him as the son of David. I think later Joseph would recall that phrase, maybe many times throughout his life of raising Jesus, and realize that even though he was not the earthly father of Jesus, that he was in the lineage of David, as was Mary, and that he was also part of the divine design to fulfill the prophecies that David would always have a descendant on the throne, that Jesus was a son of David. He was chosen to be a part of this prophecy just as much as any other person in this story. God himself chose Joseph to be the man he knew would raise his son and love him as his own. He chose Joseph’s hands to place Jesus into to be the man in his life. His financial status didn’t matter – he was just a poor carpenter, a man who created things with wood. But it was his heart that God was after.
Joseph was told not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. In the end of the betrothal period, the custom was that the groomsmen would come to the house of the bride and her bridesmaids and bring them through a procession at night, to end up at the house of the groom, and to come into the house to live with him from that point forward. (That’s a whole different study, because there is so much significance in it comparing this Jewish tradition to our bride and groom relationship we have with Jesus.) So the angel was telling him not to be afraid to go ahead with the final traditional act of making Mary his wife, by bringing her into his home. That sort of nixed the divorce idea! But the angel, again graciously, told him why.... “because what is conceived in her is from God himself, she is innocent, she is still a virgin, she is God’s divine instrument chosen to bring a Messiah to Joseph’s people.” I find the next phrase very interesting. The angel told Joseph, “YOU” are to give him the name Jesus. He told Mary the same thing, but he didn’t have to include Joseph in this. He had no physical contribution to this birth. I’m sure he at times must have felt like a total outsider in this divine relationship between God and Mary and Jesus. But God said that Joseph was to name Jesus. God wanted him to be a part of Jesus’ life, not an outsider. As all fathers did in that culture, he was told to name his “son”. God was entrusting Joseph his very own son. God chose Joseph to be the father to his child. Wow!! I believes that speaks volumes of Joseph’s character. It is hard for a man to be a Godly father, to love his family deeply, provide for the family, spend time in relationship with his children and his wife, but it is a great step further to be asked to do the same for a child who is in no way a part of you – a step-child. How appropriate in our time today in our century, when divorce is rampant, yet God in his grace still wants to place children in homes where there is a father figure and a mother, both willing to sacrifice their personal agenda in order to raise a child to know God. What a high calling. It to me echoes the very nature of Jesus and God, in that we are ALL adopted into his family. Every one of us is adopted, and God has chosen to love us as if we were his own birth child!
I have a step-daughter. I know a lot of you reading this have step-children. Step-families are hard. I was not a good step-mother when it all started. I was caught up in all the blended family issues that inevitably occur, and unfortunately in a lot of selfishness on my part. But I can say today that I love Olivia like she is one of my own children. She is a part of me in some way, even though she is not mine by birth. In fact, some of her traits and talents are as much like some of mine as if we were related by blood. She is a blessing in my life, and has provided me with an experience I would not have known apart from her being in my life.
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And HE gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph completed the betrothal at some point before Jesus was born and took Mary into his home as his wife, although he kept her a virgin.
Joseph loved God, but he learned that loving God was about loving the woman he thought was unfaithful, and about being willing to change his own view about what is the right thing to do in life. Not just follow the Law, but follow the higher law of love. Joseph was a righteous man who was opened up to God, God’s love and God’s purposes, even though Joseph probably didn’t understand them fully anymore than we always do. But Joseph was willing to go with God, and that meant going with Mary, and the birth that was about to take place.
Who is it in your life that God has called you to be in relationship with? To love like your own? What is it in your life that sort of stopped your plans and changed the direction of your life? Do you understand that God must see a depth of character in you to have chosen you for the thing he is asking of you? If he can send his own son into the safe-keeping of human hands for your well-being and salvation, can you accept what he wants to send into your life for another’s safe-keeping and well-being and possibly their eternal salvation? Can you accept that your life is about more than just you? Can you do the selfless thing he asks of you when he asks?
It is a hard thing to ponder, but God will ask it of you at some point, if he hasn’t already.
Be blessed. Love beyond your bloodline.
Teresa
Today, we are going to jump over to Matthew, chapter 1, since Luke did not record the story of Joseph. Matthew wrote about Joseph and what happened to him before Mary gave birth to Jesus.
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
The Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man. Joseph was now already in a legally binding contract of betrothal with Mary. And he found that his fiancée was pregnant by some person other than himself! It may have been before she left to see Elizabeth, or after she returned three months later, that she had “the talk” with Joseph. In my mind, I think she probably told him before she left, and that it gave Joseph the time he needed with the Lord to deal with it before she came back home from Elizabeth’s house three months later. Regardless, according to Jewish law, any man who was engaged to a woman who turned out not to be a virgin, was entitled to bring evidence against her and she could be tried publicly and possibly stoned to death (Deut 22:20-21). He could also divorce her, as during the betrothal period they were legally bound together already and the only thing that could break the betrothal was death or divorce. Interestingly, those that keep Jewish law were considered righteous. But God saw a different righteousness in Joseph. HIS kind of righteousness – grace that went beyond the law. Joseph did not want her publicly humiliated, and he certainly did not want to have her stoned to death. So, he decided to quietly divorce her. Just that one act speaks volumes to me of Joseph’s character. His very manhood and ego had been insulted, his fiancée was pregnant, it wasn’t his child, he would be ridiculed by his peers, and probably encouraged by his buddies to “teach her a lesson” and save face! What a humiliating situation for a man to be in! Some of you men reading this can probably imagine the kind of struggle this brought up in Joseph. Trying to be a Godly man, and then this! Why? Why was God doing this to him?? He was a righteous man. But something within Joseph’s spirit, a man in the lineage of David (and Bathsheba), found grace for the situation, and put aside his own ego and reputation, in Mary’s behalf. Divorcing her quietly was an act of mercy on his part. An act that was the very picture of the child he would soon raise.
BUT.....now here comes another angel! Zechariah, Mary and now Joseph. Joseph’s visitation was different in that it was in a dream. However, do not discount the significance, as dreams and visions have carried an incredible amount of weight all through Jewish history. (Look at how big a part dreams played in the other Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, among countless others.) In our day, we can tend to discount dreams and attribute them to the pizza we ate the night before. And some of them are just that! However, I truly believe God is still active in our dream life. I have had many dreams that were definitely God speaking to me. See, when we dream, our logical conscious mind is at rest, and I believe that sometimes, people like me would explain away things in the daytime with our mind, but at night God has full access to my mind. He’s shown me some amazing things at night. And what he showed Joseph that night was an angelic visitation, a night vision, another divine intervention. No doubt, Joseph’s mind was churning and reeling and trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation, and when he finally fell asleep one night after having toiled through an unending torrent of thoughts and solutions all day, his mind became available and quieted so that he could hear the Holy Spirit. And this dream would not be the end of Joseph’s dreaming, as you will see later.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The angel identified Joseph by his name, but also by his lineage, son of David. By this point in the story, I’m coming to realize that no word spoken by an angel is insignificant! I believe each word carried weight, such as the fact that he greeted him as the son of David. I think later Joseph would recall that phrase, maybe many times throughout his life of raising Jesus, and realize that even though he was not the earthly father of Jesus, that he was in the lineage of David, as was Mary, and that he was also part of the divine design to fulfill the prophecies that David would always have a descendant on the throne, that Jesus was a son of David. He was chosen to be a part of this prophecy just as much as any other person in this story. God himself chose Joseph to be the man he knew would raise his son and love him as his own. He chose Joseph’s hands to place Jesus into to be the man in his life. His financial status didn’t matter – he was just a poor carpenter, a man who created things with wood. But it was his heart that God was after.
Joseph was told not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. In the end of the betrothal period, the custom was that the groomsmen would come to the house of the bride and her bridesmaids and bring them through a procession at night, to end up at the house of the groom, and to come into the house to live with him from that point forward. (That’s a whole different study, because there is so much significance in it comparing this Jewish tradition to our bride and groom relationship we have with Jesus.) So the angel was telling him not to be afraid to go ahead with the final traditional act of making Mary his wife, by bringing her into his home. That sort of nixed the divorce idea! But the angel, again graciously, told him why.... “because what is conceived in her is from God himself, she is innocent, she is still a virgin, she is God’s divine instrument chosen to bring a Messiah to Joseph’s people.” I find the next phrase very interesting. The angel told Joseph, “YOU” are to give him the name Jesus. He told Mary the same thing, but he didn’t have to include Joseph in this. He had no physical contribution to this birth. I’m sure he at times must have felt like a total outsider in this divine relationship between God and Mary and Jesus. But God said that Joseph was to name Jesus. God wanted him to be a part of Jesus’ life, not an outsider. As all fathers did in that culture, he was told to name his “son”. God was entrusting Joseph his very own son. God chose Joseph to be the father to his child. Wow!! I believes that speaks volumes of Joseph’s character. It is hard for a man to be a Godly father, to love his family deeply, provide for the family, spend time in relationship with his children and his wife, but it is a great step further to be asked to do the same for a child who is in no way a part of you – a step-child. How appropriate in our time today in our century, when divorce is rampant, yet God in his grace still wants to place children in homes where there is a father figure and a mother, both willing to sacrifice their personal agenda in order to raise a child to know God. What a high calling. It to me echoes the very nature of Jesus and God, in that we are ALL adopted into his family. Every one of us is adopted, and God has chosen to love us as if we were his own birth child!
I have a step-daughter. I know a lot of you reading this have step-children. Step-families are hard. I was not a good step-mother when it all started. I was caught up in all the blended family issues that inevitably occur, and unfortunately in a lot of selfishness on my part. But I can say today that I love Olivia like she is one of my own children. She is a part of me in some way, even though she is not mine by birth. In fact, some of her traits and talents are as much like some of mine as if we were related by blood. She is a blessing in my life, and has provided me with an experience I would not have known apart from her being in my life.
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And HE gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph completed the betrothal at some point before Jesus was born and took Mary into his home as his wife, although he kept her a virgin.
Joseph loved God, but he learned that loving God was about loving the woman he thought was unfaithful, and about being willing to change his own view about what is the right thing to do in life. Not just follow the Law, but follow the higher law of love. Joseph was a righteous man who was opened up to God, God’s love and God’s purposes, even though Joseph probably didn’t understand them fully anymore than we always do. But Joseph was willing to go with God, and that meant going with Mary, and the birth that was about to take place.
Who is it in your life that God has called you to be in relationship with? To love like your own? What is it in your life that sort of stopped your plans and changed the direction of your life? Do you understand that God must see a depth of character in you to have chosen you for the thing he is asking of you? If he can send his own son into the safe-keeping of human hands for your well-being and salvation, can you accept what he wants to send into your life for another’s safe-keeping and well-being and possibly their eternal salvation? Can you accept that your life is about more than just you? Can you do the selfless thing he asks of you when he asks?
It is a hard thing to ponder, but God will ask it of you at some point, if he hasn’t already.
Be blessed. Love beyond your bloodline.
Teresa
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