Category: Daily Prayers

 

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.

Isaiah 9:6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 11:1  A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Jeremiah 23:5. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

John 1:14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 1:35. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Micah 5:2 “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.”

Matthew 1:18-23. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about : His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Galatians 4:4-5 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Luke 2:21  On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

 Luke 1:14-16. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

Matthew 2:1-6. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Luke 1:26-32  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But 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. 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,

Luke 2:7-14. and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 1:30-33. But 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. 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

 

 

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. (Luke 1:32)

Nazareth was a small town 70 miles (113 km) north of Jerusalem. It was a tough place, a town known for its corruption and low morals. Yet in this dark setting a brilliant gem shined: a young woman named Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Mary was engaged, but not yet married; the Bible plainly says she was a virgin. One day, Mary had a spectacular angelic visitation. The angel spoke highly of Mary, but the focus of his message was not on Mary but on a Son to be named Jesus, who was unmistakably identified as the Messiah predicted by the Old Testament.

It’s not unusual for someone to buy a baby book when they first learn they will have a child. They often begin to record their thoughts and feelings during their time of pregnancy, writing their hopes and dreams for their unborn child. But no one, even the proudest parent, would ever write for their child what the angel said of Jesus before He was born: He will be great.

It was true: He would be great. Simply said, no one has influenced history more than Jesus Christ. Years ago, Fred Bock expressed this powerfully in a piece titled “One Solitary Life”:

Born in an obscure village, He was the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty years old, and then for three years He traveled around the county, stopping long enough to talk and to listen to people, and help where He could.

He never wrote a book, He never had a hit record, He never went to college, He never ran for public office, He never had a family or owned a house. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. But when He was only thirty-three years old, the tide of public opinion turned against Him, and His friends rejected Him. When He was arrested, very few wanted anything to do with Him. After the trial, He was executed by the State along with admitted thieves. Only because a generous friend offered his own cemetery plot was there any place to bury Him.

This all happened nineteen centuries ago, and yet today He is the leading figure of the human race, and the ultimate example of love. Now it is no exaggeration to say that all the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever set sail, all the rulers that have ever ruled, all the kings that have ever reigned on this earth, all put together have not affected the life of man on earth like One Solitary Life.

The question remains: has Jesus affected your life? The angel said, He will be great – has the greatness of Jesus touched your life?

It is hard to have love in our hearts when we feed it with worldly views, opinions, and ideals. There is so much in social media and news outlets that is written, not to give news and understanding about an issue, but rather to twist, turn, knead, and form it into a means to sway weak-minded sheep to hate and fear. If you spend any time on social media or reading/watching news outlets and you read it with – what intent are they proclaiming – you can understand it clearly. The sheep of this world – Left or Right leaning – will spew these same thoughts as though they were their own. They do not see the lack of love or the division or the hatred or the anger or the fear it causes.

This devotion has a great message about Love.

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

–John 3:16

“Love . . . bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 7-8). You probably have heard those words recited at a wedding ceremony. Many people–even some non-Christians–have signs and plaques in their homes with quotations from this famous chapter of the Bible.

But sometimes we become so immersed in the literary style and beauty of 1 Corinthians 13 that we ignore the substance of this passage. Paul did not get up one day and say, “You know what? It is a beautiful spring day. I think I will sit under a tree and write an ode to love.” No, Paul was not trying to create beautiful poetry here. He was addressing a problem in the church at Corinth. They were being torn apart, so in this chapter, he provided real answers to the Corinthians’ problems–and to all our problems today.

Remember, the church at Corinth was a growing church in an influential city. Yet in the church at Corinth there was no love. Love is not a spiritual gift; it is a command. And the reason God commands us as Christians to make love preeminent in our lives and in the church is that we are the visible representation of Jesus Christ on earth. In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples.” By what? Not by your orthodoxy, your doctrinal purity, or your knowledge of Scripture, Jesus said, but “if you have love for one another.” Love is the way we keep the body of Christ functioning as a good representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Greek language, there were three primary words that are translated as “love.” The word “eros” refers to sexual love. The word “phileo” refers to the warm emotion you have for another person in your family. Then there is the word “agape.” It is a self-sacrificing love, a love that is more interested in what it can give than what it can receive. Sometimes when I am counseling a young couple that is about to get married, the young man will say, “I just cannot wait to get married. I love her so much!” That may be true, but a lot of times people confuse love and lust. I have heard the difference described this way: “Lust can never wait to get, but love can never wait to give.”

This sacrificial, agape love is the kind of love God demonstrated for us. As John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” God gave up His only Son for us. That is the kind of love Paul was describing in 1 Corinthians 13. He said self-sacrificing love is the answer to the conflicts in our lives and in the church.

 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
2 Corinthians 10:3, NIV

The Bible declares some things that might not be immediately obvious—like mankind being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Other things it assumes—like the fact that we are in a war. It is obvious that we do not currently live in a world where peace is the norm.  When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he did not reveal that they were in a war; he assumed they knew that. Instead, he told them how to go about waging war. The specific war Paul was in was with false apostles who were masquerading as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:15). Though they were in the world and Paul was in the world, he did not battle them with worldly weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Rather, he battled with spiritual weapons, the fullest description of which is in Ephesians 6:10-18: truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. These are not the weapons of the world but of the Kingdom of God.

You are in a spiritual war in this world. Arm yourself with the armor and weapons that will ensure your victory.

Lies and false reports are among Satan’s choicest weapons.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

–1 Corinthians 10:21-22

Paul told the Corinthians to flee from idolatry. He said you cannot mix the worship of Christ and the worship of idols, and he illustrated that by pointing to the Lord’s Supper. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:16-17: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” When we worship together at the Lord’s table, we are not worshiping just any god; we are worshiping a specific God–the one true God who manifested Himself in Jesus Christ. In the same way, participating in the practices of idolatry is the same as worshiping that idol.

But the Corinthians wondered, “If those idols are not real, what difference does it make?” Paul answered that question by confirming the truth about idols. He said in verses 19-20, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No.” Is there anything real about an idol? Of course not. Psalm 115:5-8 explains how impotent idols really are: “They have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.”

But then Paul told the truth about demons. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.” Behind every idol, every false religion, is a demonic power. We see this in Psalm 106:35-37: “[The Israelites] mingled with the nations and learned their practices, and served their idols. . . . They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.” When the Israelites and the Canaanites sacrificed their children, did they think they were sacrificing to demons? Of course not. But behind those false deities were demons.

In our inclusive culture, we get this idea that followers of other religions are just sincere seekers of the truth. They are trying to find God in their way. No–every false religion is demonically inspired to lead people away from God. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:21-22: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?” You cannot mix the worship of Christ and the worship of idols. You cannot mix truth and error.