Christmas Devotion Day 15 - Mary Visits Elizabeth

Read Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:46-47 - And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

Mary went to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah. Elizabeth and Mary were related, so Mary most likely knew of the miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy in her old age, and she wanted to share her own miracle with someone she knew would understand. When Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s home, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb "leaped" as he recognized the Child in Mary’s womb.

There are many people in our world today who believe babies in the womb are not human and cannot feel anything. From our verses today, as well as others in the Bible, we see that even these tiny babies can respond to God. 

Mary’s song in answer to Elizabeth’s blessing is also proof the women of this time memorized Scripture just as the young men did. Much of her song comes from the song Hannah sang when she praised God for giving her a miracle son, Samuel – you can read it in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.

As we learned in our last lesson, Mary knew she would face some very difficult problems because she was pregnant before her marriage. The Law even said Joseph, as the husband, had the right to have her executed. But she chose to obey God and let Him work out the problems.

*When God asks you to do something for Him, and then problems come up, how do you react?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, what an incredible gift You are! Help me to recognize and fight for even the tiniest baby that You have created. Help me also to trust in You and walk in obedience, even when the road is unclear or filled with obstacles. I love you Jesus! In Your name I pray, Amen. 

Christmas Devotion Day 14 - Gabriel Visits Mary

Read Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:38 - And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.

Mary was probably about seventeen or eighteen years old when she received a visit from the Angel Gabriel. This was about six months after Gabriel had visited Zechariah, as we read in our last lesson.

Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. Both she and Joseph came from the royal family of David, so the marriage may have been arranged for them many years before. However, both had to give their assent to the marriage before the engagement contract could be legal. Normally, there would be a year between the engagement and the marriage itself, but the engagement was so binding that a divorce was required to break it, and usually the only reason for such a divorce would be evidence of impurity, such as a child being born.

Mary knew all these things, and yet, when Gabriel told her God’s plan for her to have a baby before the wedding, it was her decision if she wanted to face all the awful things people would think and say about her. Please note she also asked Gabriel how this could be, just as Zechariah had asked. But her question was from innocence rather than doubt – God knew what was in her heart. Gabriel’s answer that this child would be from God was met with Mary’s faith. Her answer, in the verse above, came from trusting God.

*When God asks something of you that might mean you lose favor with others around you, what is your answer?

Prayer: O Lord, thank you for answering the questions of a young woman with gentleness and understanding. Please help me to answer the questions of others in the same way. And help me, O Lord to show the willingness of Mary to do everything You ask of me...May Your Word be fulfilled in me. In Jesus' name, Amen

The Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13 – “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord had already spoken of His wonderful “HOW MUCH MORE?” Here in Luke, where He repeats the question, there is a difference. Instead of speaking, as then of giving good gifts, He says, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give THE HOLY SPIRIT?” He teaches us that the chief and the best of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, or rather, that in this gift all others are comprised. The Holy Spirit is the first of the Father’s gifts, and the one He delights most to bestow. The Holy Spirit is therefore the gift we ought first and chiefly to seek.

The unspeakable worth of this gift we can easily understand. Jesus spoke of the Spirit as “THE promise of the Father,” the one promise in which God’s Fatherhood revealed itself. The best gift a good and wise father can bestow on a child on earth is his own spirit. This is the great object of a father in education—to reproduce in his child his own disposition and character. If the child is to know and understand his father; if, as he grows up, he is to enter into all his will and plans; if he is to have his highest joy in the father, and the father in him, he must be of one mind and spirit with him. So it is impossible to conceive of God bestowing any higher gift on His child than this, His own Spirit. God is what He is through His Spirit; the Spirit is the very life of God. Just think what it means: God giving His own Spirit to His child on earth.

Or was not this the glory of Jesus as a Son upon earth, that the Spirit of the Father was in Him? At His baptism in Jordan the two things were united—the voice, proclaiming Him the Beloved Son, and the Spirit, descending upon Him. The apostle says of us, “Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” A king seeks in the whole education of his son to call forth in him a kingly spirit. Our Father in heaven desires to educate us as His children for the holy, heavenly life in which He dwells, and for this gives us, from the depths of His heart, His own Spirit. It was this which was the whole aim of Jesus when, after having made atonement with His own blood, He entered for us into God’s presence, that He might obtain for us, and send down to dwell in us, the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of the Father, and of the Son, the whole life and love of the Father and the Son are in Him and, coming down into us, He lifts us up into their fellowship. As Spirit of the Father, He sheds abroad the Father’s love, with which He loved the Son, in our hearts, and teaches us to live in it. As Spirit of the Son, He breathes in us the childlike liberty, and devotion, and obedience in which the Son lived upon earth. The Father can bestow no higher or more wonderful gift than this: His own Holy Spirit, the Spirit of sonship.

Prayer: Father in heaven, You sent Your Son to reveal Yourself to us, Your Father-love, and all that that love has for us. And He has taught us that the gift above all gifts which You would bestow in answer to prayer is the Holy Spirit.

Christmas Devotion Day 13 - Zechariah and Elizabeth

Read Luke 1:1-24

"Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John...And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous - to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:13,17

It had been nearly four hundred years since God had given a prophecy to the people of Israel (last lesson). He had been silent so long the people wondered if He had forsaken them. But then He sent His angel to a priest serving in the temple. This priest was an old man, and his wife was also too old enough to have children. Yet God told Zechariah he was about to have a son born.

Zechariah doubted God, which was surprising because he had been trained in God’s ways from a young child, trained to be a priest. He knew how God had given a child to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Because of Zechariah’s doubt, God made it impossible for him to speak, and said he would regain the ability to talk when his son was born.

How often do we doubt what God says to us, even though we read it in the Bible? Maybe, like for Zechariah, God’s words just do not make sense because we cannot see how what He says can happen. Maybe we are listening to someone else trying to explain what God REALLY said, but it is not the same as the words in the Bible. For Zechariah, the moment he was unable to speak he knew he had done the wrong thing by not trusting God. But now he would have to wait for the birth of his son before he would be able to speak again.

*When did you doubt what God said to you? What happened?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to not only believe in You but to believe You...to believe what You say to us in Your Word and what You speak to our hearts through Your Holy Spirit. May we believe and not doubt. We love you! In Jesus' name, Amen. 

Christmas Devotion Day 12 - God Sends a Forerunner

Read Malachi 3-4

Malachi 3:1 - Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; and the Messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 

The last prophecy for this study, of the Messiah coming, is part of the last prophecy in the Bible before Jesus was born. Much of what you have read in the Scripture for today is about judgment, the judgment on evil the Messiah would bring. 

But just as we read over and over in the Bible, God gives people mercy and grace: another chance to repent and turn from wickedness. This is the purpose of this messenger God will send to prepare the way for the Messiah.

All through their history the people of Israel had been given prophets and leaders to tell them God’s ways and plans. Most of the time, the people had either ignored God’s warnings, or in some cases had even openly told God they did not care or they did not believe His warnings. This was one of the important reasons why God gave them prophecy warnings – telling them ahead of time exactly what would happen so they knew He was telling the truth. God has warned us the same way.

*What prophecy warning are you listening to from God?

Prayer; Thank you, O Lord, for Your mercy and grace to us! Thank you for the messengers you bring to us  who tell us the truth and lead us to You. We love you Jesus! In Your name, Amen. 

Christmas Devotion Day 11 - God Names the Town

Read Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 - But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 

One of the most incredible things about God’s prophecies is how He sometimes gives great details of what He will do. There are actually two very specific prophecies about Bethlehem regarding the Messiah. Besides our verse above, see also Jeremiah 31:15 which is a prophecy about the children of Bethlehem being killed – we will study this a bit more in a later lesson.

It did not matter where Mary and Joseph were living when Jesus was conceived (a later study). God had promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and God would make that happen without picking Mary and Joseph up and spiriting them to Bethlehem just in time for Jesus to be born. 

Do you believe God knows or controls the smallest details of your life? And if He does, are you still able to make choices for yourself? You cannot choose everything in your life. For example, you could not choose who your parents were or who your siblings are. Yet, these relationships have the largest influence of your life in what choices you can make about who you want to be. God’s plan will work out – your choices determine whether you want Him to work out everything for good for you.

*What bad thing in your life have you seen God turn into good?

Prayer: Thank you for the choices You have made for me. Continue to guide my life O Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

Christmas Devotion Day 10: Salvation Through His Death

Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Isaiah 53:4-5 - Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 

As we read a few lessons ago, the prophecies for the Messiah were not all about strength and power and victory. Our Scripture reading today could seem like a complete defeat – but it is actually victory God’s way. 

Messiah was coming, but He must first do a very difficult job. He must come to take care of our sin problem. Sin is such a problem because the only penalty for it is death. There is no sentence of prison time or payment or good work anyone can ever do to pay for even one sin. And once we are physically dead, the death sentence cannot be reversed unless our spirits have been made alive before our bodies died.

Jesus came to earth for one purpose – to die. He told Pilate at His trial that His purpose was Truth – and the most basic Truth is that sin causes death and there is only one way to escape death – Jesus.

Our Scripture reading says, in Verse 4, some may see God the Father as the cause of Jesus’ suffering – but the truth is, WE are the cause of Jesus’ suffering. He came to pay the price for us because of His great love for us.

*What makes you certain Jesus has given you eternal life and forgiveness?

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for giving Your life for my sins. I can never repay you. All I can give you is my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength. Use me to further Your Kingdom. I love you Jesus! In Your name I pray, Amen.