Advent Devotion (Day 11) - God Sends a Baby

           
                        While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born.      – Luke 2:6


It is the year 1809 and "men were following with bated breath the march of Napoleon and waiting feverishly for news of the war. And all the while in their own homes, babies were being born. But who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles.

In one year, there stole into a world a host of heroes. Gladstone was born in Liverpool, England, and Tennyson at Somersby. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln drew his first breath in Old Kentucky, and music was enriched by the birth of Felix Mendelssohn in Hamburg.

But nobody thought about babies. Everybody was thinking about battles. Yet, which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies that were born in 1809?

We fancy that God can only manage His world through the big battalions of life, when all the while He is doing it through the beautiful babies that are being born into the world. When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it.

And where do you find God on Christmas? In a manger. A baby was born at the heart of the Roman Empire, and when the Roman Empire would crumble and fall, that baby, who would become a man, would also become Savior of the world. " John Maxwell

Christmas Devotion (Day 9) - Fully Human and Fully God

Read Isaiah 49:1-6

Isaiah 49:1 - Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 

One of the most difficult things for some people to believe is that if we say Jesus is God, how could He also be human? Many insist being human would be too humiliating for God. 

But we read in John 1:1-14 how the Word, the Messiah, was truly God and yet “the Word became flesh.” This does not mean God had sex with Mary to have a baby with her – even this thought is offensive. Instead, God simply did a miracle in Mary, giving her a child as no other woman in history has ever had a child. The miracle is the same as when God had shaped a man’s body from dirt, He breathed into the body’s nose and the body became a living man – Adam. God can, and did in Mary’s case, make a woman pregnant without sex. No other woman has had this happen before or after Mary. 

Jesus the Messiah was, and still is, unique. He has always been God and always will be; and at this time in history He took on human flesh so we could see and understand God better.

*What is the greatest miracle God has done in your life?*

Advent Devotion (Day 10) - Why Lord?

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was also expecting a child.  Luke 2:4-5

What an inconvenience. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is eighty-five to ninety miles by the shortest route (through Samaria). Whether on foot or riding a donkey, the trip would take several days and would be difficult for a pregnant woman. To bring the journey into perspective, think of a place eighty or ninety miles from your home. Then imagine walking that distance—and then walking the return trip. Even mounted on a donkey, it would be an unpleasant journey.

This young couple may have wondered why? Why is this happening Lord? This is her first baby...Your son. Wouldn't it be better to give birth at home, with our families, with her mother to help her? Why now?

It would have been a costly journey as well for this family who had little to begin with. And potentially dangerous due to bandits along the way.

But maybe, just maybe, God was preparing Joseph and Mary for another journey they would need to take. A journey that would not only have them leaving their home but leaving their country.

Not more than two years later, the Jewish King Herod would find out about Jesus being born (from the wise men) and would do his best to kill him. "When they (the wise men) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew 2:13-15

Often times the Lord works that way. He allows a difficulty, an inconvenience, a problem to enter our life in order to prepare us, train us, get us ready for something in the future. Something we have no idea about. Something that will require quick obedience and unfailing trust in the Lord. But just as God was with Mary and Joseph on both of these journeys, He is with us also no matter where we have to go.

Christmas Devotion (Day 8) - A Servant Messiah

Read Isaiah 42:1-7

Isaiah 42:6-7 - I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 

There are many prophecies about the Messiah being a ruler and a victor. We often look only for the things that help us be successful and happy. But God prophesied the Messiah was coming as a Servant, someone who would do a very special job which could be done by no one else but God Himself.

In other verses of our reading passage, there are descriptions of things Messiah would do or be which would be painful and discouraging. God’s promise, however, was that He would not allow anything to happen to the Messiah that was not completely according to His perfect plan. All He had designed for this time of Messiah being a Servant would turn out for people’s good. When He was tired, He would not complain. When He was hurting, He would not cry out. When He was exhausted, He would not become faint or discouraged.

*How has Jesus helped you complete a task you found difficult or humiliating?

Advent Devotion (Day 9) - Moved by God

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. – Luke 2:1

Throughout history, God has used both believers in Him and those who do not believe, to accomplish His will. Luke 2:1 gives us a very great example of this.

According to God's great plan, declared by his prophet Micah more than 500 years before, Christ was to be born at Bethlehem, “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.”

But how could this be fulfilled? Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee...a great distance from Bethlehem. In those days people rarely travelled far from their homes. Plus, Mary was pregnant and in no condition to travel. Yet, God's plan said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

Enter Caesar! In no way a believer in God, his mind was moved by the Lord ("The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases." Proverbs 21:1) to issue an order to count his subjects in all the Roman territories so that they could then be taxed more accurately. Little did Caesar know that he was only doing what the Lord had intended from the beginning of time.

This decree forced the young couple to leave their home and support network, and journey to a distant city, a city just waiting for the birth of the Messiah.  So Christ came to be born in Bethlehem, according to the word of the Lord; and little Bethlehem becomes not the least amongst the thousands of Judah, one coming out of it to be a Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth were of old, even from everlasting.

Christmas Devotion (Day 7) - A Child is Born

Read Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah 9:6-7 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
In the next few lessons we look at some of the prophecies given by God, and what they tell us about this Child who would be born – the Messiah. Our Scripture reading today tells of a time when people who walk in darkness will see a great light. In 1 John 1:5 we read God is Light, and Jesus said He is the Light of the World – John 8:12.

In the two verses above we find many descriptions of who the Messiah will actually be. Read the comparisons between the description and how they apply to Jesus:

Wonderful Counselor – people marveled at Jesus’ wisdom (Matthew 22:15-22)
Mighty God – Jesus called Himself one with God (John 10:30)
Everlasting Father – God had called Himself Israel’s Father from the beginning (Exodus 4:22)
Prince of Peace – the angels told the shepherds Jesus was bringing peace to men (Luke 2:14)

Messiah would be God Himself.

*How have you experienced Jesus’ peace in your life?

Advent Devotion (Day 8) - Do Not Fear

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” – Luke 1:30-31

"Fear. One of the enemy’s most popular weapons that he uses against us. Worry, anxiety, fear…can overwhelm us with a thick shadow of darkness, controlling our every move and decision.
So much crazy going on around us today - wars, conflicts, persecution, violence, crime, natural disasters, terrorism, economic uncertainty, unemployment, divisions, disease, death. We fear for our children’s future, we fear for our families, we fear for our financial future, we fear for our safety. The list goes on…long." Debbie McDaniel

So how do we combat this fear? By turning to God's Word. Just as the angel said to Mary...do not fear, God tells us in His Word, "Do Not Fear". By focusing on these words of life, of truth, we can change our mindset. Soaking them in, over and over, and praying them out loud, will slowly begin to replace the familiar thoughts of fear and anxiety. There’s nothing magical about words and verses, but there is power through them, because they’re God’s words. 

"His words are “life” words, soothing to our soul, calming to our spirits, giving power to our days.  

It’s not always easy, and it often comes down to a choice: 

Choosing not to allow fear and anxiety to control your life. 

Choosing to guard your heart. 

Choosing to focus your mind on what is truth in the midst of uncertain times.

We might still feel afraid, but we can believe that God is with us. We may not be in control, but we can trust the One who is. We may not know the future, but we can know the God who does." Debbie McDaniel