December 24: Luke 2 6-7

Key Verse: Luke 2 7
And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Devotion:
What! You’re a day early! Well, we don’t actually know the time and date of Jesus birth, much the same as we don’t know the time and date of many things that have happened in our ancient history, but we still stick to them because that is the way we have always done it! I want to shake things up a little and stop us from just doing stuff but to stop and think about what we are about to do before we do it. So today we stop and think about what happened around 2015 years ago.

Mary and Joseph had been given a baby to raise by God. The angels had come to tell them of their task and they now knew this to be true. How they handled it with all the stress of family life and things would be much that same as people handle things nowadays – sometimes we just get on and do it because it has to be done.

No. I think they handled this differently. I think as time went on they began to see the gravity of their situation as the guardians of this little boy who is our Messiah, our King of Kings, our Saviour! I believe they would have gone through each day with a lot of prayer, especially as the time grew ever closer to His birth. I believe they would have made a difference and people would have noticed. But the people who did notice have not written about it in such a way that we all remember it to the minute detail, they have written it in their hearts.

Let us change the way we do Christmas this year and write it in our hearts. So today, as we get ready for the ‘big day’ tomorrow, let us reflect on how much God had done up to this point in time to make sure that our Saviour was delivered in exactly the right place, in the right time and on the right day. Think about all you have to do just to get ‘Christmas’ ready in your own homes, and think about how special a day it will be because of your work. Tomorrow is God’s great day. Remember it well and lift up your Saviour in praise!

Points to Ponder:
Are you ready for Christmas?

Are you ready for Christ?

December 23: Genesis 4 1-2

Key Verse: Genesis 4 2
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Devotion:
Right from the beginning of time we have been shown how people in the bible times have called their children according to how they are going to grow up. People have been given a glimpse of what their children will be like or have totally trusted the Lord and believed their children would turn out to be what they have asked for. How else would they know what their children would be like other than being told by God or asking God and believing it?

I found this a bit of an eye opener when I first thought out it. How many times have you asked God for something and hoped that He would deliver? How many times have you asked but actually not believed in what you are asking? How many times have you asked for something to be sorted and then gone about trying to find a way of sorting it out yourself? How far do you push your faith?

All very difficult questions and questions we don’t really want to answer until we know the answers from experience! But questions that don’t seem to come up in some of our stories from our bibles… I fear that we are growing or have grown into a church that asks and no longer believes that God is going to answer, a church that is struggling in faith because we have given up believing that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE for our God!

Think about the people that have been born throughout history that have been born in order for the line of David to be sorted so that Christ could be born to the right people. And then to have a virgin give birth to that child and then to have it all written down before hand just to make sure we can know it is from God! Think about the enormity of the circumstance and then come and tell me that God can do the impossible. Yes this may seem impossible to us, but God has demonstrated He can do it. Go on, believe Him and expect the impossible…

Points to Ponder:
Do you always back up your prayers with your own actions?

How often do you actually pray in faith?

December 22: Isaiah 7 13-17

Key Verse: Isaiah 7 14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Devotion:
What sort of a panic do you get into when you are told about something really important that is going to happen in the next few minutes or even the next day? But is that panic anything like it when you are told a month or two in advance? Somehow telling us of an important event a long time in advance gets us into a place where we will think we will be prepared for the event so we do not prepare as well as we should maybe prepare!

I wonder whether this is what was happening when God used the prophets to tell of the coming of the Messiah hundreds of years before He actually came to us. I wonder whether the people were a bit too comfortable with life and allowed a false sense of security and safety to surround themselves. God has continued to warn us about the impending doom or the dangers of what lies ahead; and yet we continue to choose to put aside the law and live what we think is a life OK in our books!

Don’t ever think that God is going to sweep everything under the carpet just because it is many years since we got warned. Don’t assume that God is going to forget. This is our perfect God, the one who does not change! So take on board all that He is doing for us and all that He is going to do; this has all been written down in our bibles for us to know and learn.

Don’t be like the people of Israel and turn your backs on God. Don’t be like the rest of the world and think that there is safety in numbers. God continues to uphold the poor. God continues to uplift the righteous. God will not sweep everything under the carpet just because He loves us. God is just. That means He will uphold His Law. It will not be cast aside just to please us or pacify us. God continues to be the same yesterday, today and forever or upholds what is right. Trust him.

Points to Ponder:
Nothing is impossible with God!

Do you test God with every decision you make?

December 21: Luke 2 4-5

Key Verse: Luke 2 4
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,

Devotion:
Ok, so the questions start getting asked… When did Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem? How long did it take them? Did they walk with a donkey or go in a cart? How long before the birth was this? If we get bogged down in all the logistics we lose sight of what was happening and that is probably why none of the Gospels will give a full account of the how and when it all happened like the modern world would require!

The important part is that they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Jesus was born; because that is what God said would happen! If there was a big song and dance about them going back to Bethlehem then the king would have heard about it and would have known exactly where they were. God is the one who makes things happen behind the scenes so they happen on time and to give Him the glory, not so they happen to give us all something to read about in the papers.

We have got too used to being able to hear the news as it happens over social media and the airwaves. We have grown used to knowing things before the governments and authorities sometimes because we demand this level of knowledge. Has it actually helped us out or are we just caught up in the hype and losing focus on the real meaning of life?

God made sure that we knew what was going to happen and had given enough prophets advanced warning of the event. He sent angels to make sure the people involved were totally OK with what was happening. He made sure that the right place would be available (though maybe not in our modern eyes) and the right people got to hear about it first. God did not leave this up to chance, but planned it so that the world and all its hype would be left out of the equation. Not even the religious crowd were involved. God chose the people who would have the right attitude, so forgive me if I don’t go with the crowd and promote the story in a frenzy of hype. This is our Saviour we are talking about; the One we love!

Points to Ponder:
How do you lift up the people you love?

Are you there for Christ?