December 21: Luke 1:39-45
Key Verse: Luke 1:41
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Devotion:
Have you ever had a very big surprise? I’m not talking about something bad but something very good… When we get a surprise which is bad, it can feel like life or energy drains from your body – not sure where it goes but that is what it feels like. When we get a good surprise, the opposite seems to be true and energy and life flood back into your body – again, not sure from where!
This meeting between Mary and Elizabeth was something Elizabeth certainly felt good about. She instantly knew Mary was pregnant and she was filled with joy; so much so her baby itself was filled with joy too! That sort of joy is wonderful to experience and something we would wish to happen to us every day; sadly it does not though.
The two babies, John and Jesus, had a very special connection from this moment onward. John was filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born, and Jesus was excited even before He was born! It is this sort of special connection we can have with Jesus as soon as we accept Him into our lives. He praises God when any person wants Him in their lives – this is what he looks forward to every day!
When we believe in Christ and place our faith and trust in Him, we get direct access to this joy and peace which He wants us to have. We gain access to the living water which will allow us to grow far beyond any earthly water or food will do for us. Christ continues to want us all to join with Him just as He did when John wanted to have Him as Lord in his own life way back then.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward to having Jesus in your life?
Will you make sure you give Jesus access to all of your life?
December 20: Luke 1:26-38
Key Verse: Luke 1:32
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David
Devotion:
When we get round to reading and studying these verses, I know Christmas is upon us! Each year we go over these verses to remind us of the amazing gift God brought to us through His Son Jesus Christ. We can begin to imagine what Mary, Joseph and their families went through when God told them about their futures; but I don’t think you get to experience the full feeling unless something extraordinary has happened to you...
This is not when I tell you about something special or tell you to wait a decade or two to learn about this special time! This is where I tell you this has happened to you and is happening to you right now. We are joining in on this special journey of faith and love shared with us by God through our history.
People will tell you it couldn’t have happened or it was very different or many other things; it is a personal journey between you and Christ as you learn about His love for you and what He has done just for you. This is not just for Mary and Joseph, not just for the people alive at the time, not just for the Jews or any other people, this is a personal story for you to follow with Christ at the centre.
God can do and does do miracles. We continue to see evidence of what he is doing in our lives as we grow with Him. Inviting His to stay by your side and joining in with His story allows each of us to experience the love He has shown each of us. This Christmas, why not spend some time thinking about all the things God has done just for you.
Points to Ponder:
How much time do you spend with friends and family?
How much time do you spend with God?
December 19: 2 Peter 1:3-11
Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:8
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Devotion:
One of the things the disciples learned was very important was to be disciples! Being a disciples is not just about following Jesus and being a good person! Being a disciples is about taking what you learn and learning from it, then taking that and going out to show others what you have learned so they can learn like you have done. Being a disciples is about making disciples by being a disciple...
It may sound strange to say things like this in the beginning because we are answering a question by being the question – or something like that! Jesus taught the disciples through example. He taught them they had to reach out to others and get them to not just learn but to then reach out to others themselves!
Here we learn the basic steps of starting out on the road of being a disciple. We need to be the person Christ has been asking us to be. Only then can we see why He has asked us to be like this. Adding all the attributes of Christ to our daily life means stepping forward and inviting others to do the same – just like Jesus did to the disciples.
When we stop trying to learn more about Christ, we stop growing in Christ and others will see we have given up on something. This will not encourage them to find out more about Christ – instead they will learn by example to stop learning about Christ. This is the circle of discipleship – learning more about Christ to show others how they can learn more about Him...
Points to Ponder:
Do you strive every day to learn more about Christ?
Will you try to learn one new thing about Him today?
December 18: Isaiah 7:10-16
Key Verse: Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Devotion:
What does it take for you to believe something someone tells you? Do you have to see physical proof? Do you have to read about it on the News? Do you have to hear about it on social media? We all have places or people we believe and trust to hear the truth from, but what happens when the truth sounds unbelievable for some reason?
God continued to tell people they would have the Messiah come to them to be their Saviour at some stage in their lives; they did not know the date or time of this even but the Jews continued to wait for it to happen… When it did happen, they could not bring themselves to believe it because they had grown too used to having to wait – they had made the wait a more important occasion than the actual occasion itself!
God sent multiple messages through multiple prophets to make sure the people all had the chance to hear about the Messiah coming. They were told of the miracle which would happen, that the Lord would come to them by being born of a virgin and they should call Him Immanuel… yet when it happened they did not want to believe it!
We need to take God’s Word and believe it because it is the truth and has continued to be the truth from the beginning. It is the people who have corrupted it and have tried to make it of no effect because they have built things up to be more important than God in their eyes. This is the same thing that were warned about in the beginning too – yet we still do it...
Points to Ponder:
What does it take for you to believe?
Will you simply trust God’s Word?