Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 22
God, the Savior
Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life.
John 3:36 (NCV)
When does salvation come?
When we look to Christ. When we embrace him as Savior. Astonishingly simple, isn't it? Claim the great promise of John 3:16: "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life."
God, the Lover. God, the Giver. God, the Savior.
And man, the believer. And for those who believe, he has promised a new birth.
But despite the simplicity, there are still those who don't believe. They don't trust the promise....
If only they would try. If only they would test it. But God is as polite as he is passionate. He never forces his way in. The choice is theirs.
Judges 13
The Birth of Samson
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.' "
8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?"
"I am," he said.
12 So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"
13 The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her."
15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you."
16 The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?"
18 He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding. [a] " 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.
22 "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"
23 But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 22
The River of Life
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
December 22, 2008
December Desire
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READ: Revelation 22:1-5
They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. —Revelation 22:5
December is a month when people celebrate miracles. The Jewish tradition of Hanukkah—the Holiday of Lights—commemorates the time when a small amount of oil lasted 8 days and kept the light in the temple from going out. And Christmas celebrates the coming of the “Light of the World,” God in human form—Jesus.
A miracle is generally thought of as something that contradicts nature. But a true miracle is the introduction of God’s supernatural power into our world in a way that suspends the laws of physics as we understand them.
In December, it seems that more of us are willing to suspend disbelief and entertain the possibility that “nature” is not the final authority. Even the non-religious yearn for miracles. Deep down, everyone wants to believe that darkness, disease, and death can be overcome.
Perhaps the most wondrous thing about miracles is that it is God’s nature to do the supernatural. The closing chapters of Scripture assure us that this “December desire” for all to be well will become a reality: “There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain” (Rev. 21:4). God will one day bring to an end the unnatural rule of Satan and begin His righteous reign as the rightful Ruler of the universe. — Julie Ackerman Link
Thank You, Lord, that although we live in a world
where Satan’s shadow obscures Your glorious light,
we eagerly anticipate the day when Your full glory will once again illuminate all creation. Amen.
A miracle needs no explanation to those who believe in God; to those who don’t, no explanation is enough.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 22, 2008
The Drawing of the Father
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READ:
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him . . . —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16 ). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Waiting for Tomorrow's Gift - #5726 - December 22, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, December 22, 2008
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Like most families, Christmastime for us has always been a season of secrets, mysteries and anticipation. And sometimes even a little frustration. Like the year my wife and I decided to build a dollhouse for our daughter and then a general store for our son. We closed off the basement and we set up our workshop. The sign on the basement door said, "Closed - Christmas Workshop." But, of course, the kids could hear the construction sounds downstairs, and it drove them nuts! They begged us to tell them what we were working on. But that, of course, would have ruined everything. Even though it left them wondering, we were building something nice for them. They just couldn't see it until it was done.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Waiting For Tomorrow's Gift."
That scenario might be going on in your life right now. Your Father is building something really good for you, but He can't let you see it yet. It's not ready. You're not ready. It's not time. And not knowing what He's up to may be causing you some frustration, some anxiety.
Maybe you can find a little encouragement in a brief visit to the Christmas story. It's in our word for today from the Word of God. Let's go to a young woman named Mary who's been told God is up to something big in her life; a young woman who has more questions than answers. The angel has just announced that she is about to be pregnant by a miracle of Almighty God, and that the baby she will bear will be called "the Son of the Most High."
When Mary asks how this can be in light of the fact that she's a virgin, the Bible says, "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...Nothing is impossible with God.' 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said.'" Later, her cousin Elizabeth says to her, "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.'"
God is making something wonderful. But before Mary will be able to see what God is doing, she's got some major hassles to deal with. Who is going to believe that she is pregnant without committing a sexual sin? What's going to happen to her reputation? What's going to happen to her upcoming marriage? She risks losing Joseph, the man she loves. She's going to have to make a grueling 90-mile journey to Bethlehem in her ninth month. There won't even be a room where she can have her baby. He will be born in the filth of a stable. Lots of questions; lots of bumps in the road. But when she finally sees what God has been building, it is going to be incredible.
When you finally see what God is putting together behind closed doors for you, you're going to be forever grateful. You're going to love it. But for now, you may hear the hammering, but you won't be able to see what He's working on. Will you, as David said, "Wait patiently on the Lord"? You can't see who, you can't see what, you can't see when, but you know your Father loves you and He only "works all things together for good" (Romans 8:28).
Mary showed us how to respond in times like these; a marvelous five-word response you might call the ultimate Christmas spirit, "I am the Lord's servant" "Do whatever You think is best, Lord." Then you can relax in the anticipation that when you finally see what your Father is building for you, you are going to love it!