DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 12.23.23

 ThouArt the God “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims,thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.” (2Kings 19:15) Good King Hezekiah was in what seemed a hopeless situation. The mighty armies of the Assyrian empire had been sweeping through the surrounding countries in an orgy of destruction and plunder, and now were at the gates of Jerusalem, demanding its surrender.Grossly outnumbered, the choice seemed either to capitulate or die! But there was one other choice—Hezekiah could pray! The blasphemous Rabshakeh gloated that none of the gods of the other nations had been able to save them from the Assyrians...but that was beside the point. These other gods were mere personifications of naturalprocesses, possibly energized by evil spirits, but all of these had been created in the first place by Hezekiah’s God. “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens” (Psalm96:5). And that was true of Assyria’s gods as well. All ancient pagan religions were evolutionary religions, rejecting the concept of true creation and a true Creator God. Hezekiah knew the true God who had made heaven and Earth, and he could pray in reliance on His word. God could dispatch and empower just one of His mighty angels in answer to Hezekiah’s believing prayer and thus destroy the great Assyrian host in a single night! “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand:...So Sennacherib king of Assyria, departed” (2Kings 19:35-36). This God—maker of heaven and Earth—is still on His throne and can still hear and answer the prayers of those who call on His name. HMM ------------------------ InHim Is No Darkness �This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in himis no darkness at all.� (1John 1:5) Light is the most fundamental and important form of energy, and energy includes every phenomenon in the physical universe. It is appropriate for John to affirm that God is light because everything created must reflect the character of its Creator. The term �light,� therefore, has come to be applied not only to light in the physical sense but also to that which is true in the intellectual realm and holy in the moral realm. In terms of truth and genuine knowledge, �the entrance of thy words giveth light� (Psalm119:130). �In thy light shall we see light� (Psalm36:9). Without God�s truth, there is only darkness. �The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them� (2Corinthians 4:4). The Bible also speaks of light as moral holiness. �For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light....And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them� (Ephesians5:8, 11). There are still other analogies. �In him was life; and the life was the light of men� (John1:4). Not only is light symbolic of life itself, but it also depicts God�s daily guidance for our lives. �I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life� (John8:12). Since there is no darkness in God, �if we walk in the light as he is in the light� (1John 1:7), there remains no excuse for any darkness in our lives. �For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ� (2Corinthians 4:6). HMM --------------------------- Speakingin Parables �And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.� (Matthew13:3) The Lord Jesus Christ often taught His disciples through parables, and this verse both contains the first reference to parables in the New Testament and also introduces the first and most important of all His parables�the parable of the sower. Jesus Himselfindicated that an understanding of this parable was a prerequisite to an understanding of all His other parables. �Know ye not this parable? and how then will you know all parables?� (Mark4:13). Many people have the mistaken idea that Jesus spoke in parables in order to help unbelievers better understand spiritual truth, but Christ told His disciples, �It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given� (Matthew13:11). The parables were given for the instruction of His disciples, not to convert unbelievers. In fact, these parabolic teachings were symbolic so that unbelievers would not understand them! But as far as His disciples are concerned�those who believe and seek to obey His Word�the parables are vitally important, especially this foundational parable of the seed sower. The seed to be sown is the Word of God (Luke8:11), and the field is the world (Matthew13:38). Much of the ground will not receive the seed at all, and much is too full of stones or weeds to allow fruit to grow, but some will be productive ground. Now, since the sower is Christ (Matthew13:37) and the seed is His Word, the disciple�s function is simply to allow the indwelling Spirit of Christ to apply the appropriate passages from the Word to the hearts of those who read or hear. He also should, in so far as possible, prepare the �ground� to receive the Word, removing stones and thorns and digging it up to make it fertile and receptive soil when the seeds are sown. HMM -------------------- OPraise the Lord �O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great towardus: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.� (Psalm117:1-2) Psalm 117 is especially noteworthy for two reasons. First, it is the middle chapter of the Bible, and, secondly, it is the shortest chapter, with only two verses. Thus, it is significant and appropriate that its theme be that of universal and everlasting praise.The very purpose of human language is that God might communicate His word to us and that we might respond in praise to Him. The word �nations� in verse 1 refers specifically to Gentiles, while �people� seems to refer to all tribes of people. Two different Hebrew words for praise are used so that the verse could be read �Praise the LORD, all ye Gentile nations; extol him, all yepeoples of every tribe.� In any case, the sense of the exhortation is to urge everyone to praise His name. The Hebrew word translated �merciful kindness� is also rendered as �loving kindness,� or simply �mercy� or �kindness.� Whichever is preferred, the significant point is that it has been great toward us. This word (Hebrew gabar) is not the usual word for �great� but is a very strong word meaning to �triumph� or �prevail.� An example of its use is in the story of the great Flood. �And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon theearth� (Genesis7:19). In fact, it is used four times in this account of the �overwhelmingly mighty� waters of the Flood (Genesis7:18-20, 24). God�s merciful kindness has prevailed over our sin and the judgment we deserve in a manner and degree analogous to the way in which the deluge waters prevailed over the ancient evil world. God�s mercy and truth are eternal, and this will be the great themeof our praise throughout all the ages to come. HMM ---------------------------------- TheGift of Worship - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where thechild was. �Matthew 2:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-gift-of-worship/- Listen As the years go by, it�s interesting to see what Christmas gifts have fallen in and out of fashion. For instance, the hottest gift of 1975 was the Sony Betamax. It recordedtelevision programs and came with a whopping price tag of $2,300. Another popular, less-expensive gift from the same year was the mood ring. It changed colors according to whatever mood you were in. And believe it or not, it was one of thehottest gifts of that time. Also hitting the market in 1975 was the pet rock, which simply was a rock in a box. But it was one of the biggest gifts of the year, and 1.3 million of them were sold. For Christmas in 1983, people stood in line for hours for the Cabbage Patch Kids doll. They were almost impossible to get. The Bible tells us about gifts that mysterious messengers from the East brought to Jesus. They were called Magi, and in keeping with their office, they were schooled in astrology,astronomy, and mathematics. Although the Magi brought three gifts�gold, frankincense, and myrrh�the Bible doesn�t say there were three wise men. And calling them the kings of the East isn�t accurate,either, as they were more like kingmakers, those who would influence the king. They made the journey from the East and arrived in Jerusalem. There they had an audience with King Herod, and they inquired about this King of the Jews. And then they madetheir way to Bethlehem, following the star and looking for a newborn King. They understood what their objective was. They realized what was more important than anything else�that it was a time for worship. And God invaded their world. There is only one God who is worthy of our worship, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ whom we celebrate at Christmas. Whatever world you live in, whatever lifestyle you havechosen, and whatever belief system you have, Jesus Christ can invade it. The Magi, or so-called wise men, were into astrology. They looked to the stars to chart their course and guide them into the future. So, God came to them in a way that theycould understand: through a star that guided them out of the darkness and into the light. They made their way to where the child Jesus was, and they brought their gifts to Him. This serves as a reminder that wherever we are and whomever we know, no one is beyondthe reach of God. Maybe you have children that you�ve raised in the way of the Lord, but they�ve grown up and have gone astray. Maybe you won�t even see them this Christmas. Or maybe you will,but you know there will be tension. You wonder how and when God will ever get hold of them. But know this: God always has His people in every place to reach the lost, no matter their background or what they believe. God reached the Magi and brought them to faith. And He can reach your family, your children, and your friends as well. ---------------------------- Too Wonderful for Words - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! �2 Corinthians 9:15 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/too-wonderful-for-words/- Listen Something that people often overlook when they think about the birth of Jesus is that the beautiful Child born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger was born to die. It�s hardfor us to think about the fact that those soft baby hands would one day grow into the hands of a strong Man with spikes driven through them. It�s hard for us to think about the fact that the little feet of the baby Jesus would one day be nailed to a cross of wood, and the little forehead of the Babe in the manger,so loved by His mother, would one day be crowned with thorns. But know this: He came with a purpose. He didn�t come to this earth simply to show us how to live a good life and give us the greatest teachings that humanity has ever heard.Nor did He come merely to perform miracles and show us the truth about life. Jesus Christ did that and more. Yet He was born in Bethlehem with the express purpose of going to a cross and dying. From the moment He arrived on Planet Earth, Jesus Christ lived in the shadow of the cross. He was born to die so that we might live. The wise men had insight into His purpose when they brought the unusual gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They gave Him gold because the Child would be a King. Theygave Him frankincense because they recognized that He would be our High Priest representing us to God. And they brought Him myrrh, which is used for embalming. They recognized the King, the High Priest, would die for our sins. And He would give us the ultimate gift, which the Bible calls a �gift too wonderful for words� (2 Corinthians9:15 NLT). Or, as the New King James Version renders it, �His indescribable gift.� Have you ever received an indescribable gift? Probably not. You might be able to describe an unusual gift, or perhaps you saw it somewhere before. But this gift from God isindescribable. It is inexpressible. And it is eternal. Let�s say that someone hands you a beautifully wrapped box and says, �Merry Christmas!� So, you reach out and take the gift, and then they say, �That will be $29.95.� That isn�t a gift. That�s a sale. However, God has offered us a gift, no strings attached. Although it is free to us, it was bought with the blood of Christ. It�s the gift of eternal life. So, what do we need to do? We need to reach out and take the gift, receive it, enjoy it, and use it. God is offering us the forgiveness of all our sin. Don�t miss that. Godis offering us the removal of our guilt. If you�ve never asked Christ to come into your life, if you�ve never asked Him to forgive your sins, if you�ve tried to find fulfillment in things, relationships, or evenin Christmas itself and always come up short, then it�s time to come to the God whom Christmas is all about. ----------------------------- TheTriune Comforter �Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.� (2Corinthians 1:3-4) One of the titles of the Holy Spirit, especially as used in the King James Version, is His beautiful identification as �the Comforter.� The Greek word is parakletos, meaning literally �one who is called alongside to help.� A familiar verse is John 14:26: �But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.� He is our teacher, our guide, our helper, our Comforter. The same word is also translated �advocate,� meaning an attorney for the defense. In this capacity, it is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. �And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous� (1John 2:1). Though we are guilty and lost sinners, He takes our side before the Judge, pleading the sacrificial offering of His own blood for our sins, and we are saved (1John 2:2). Even the Father is our �paraclete,� according to the verses cited above. He is �the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort� (Greek paraklesis), and as we pray to our heavenly Father, He indeed does provide great consolation in every hour of trouble and sorrow. Thus, each person of the Godhead�Father, Son, and Holy Spirit�serves as Comforter (�paraclete�) to the believer, as needed, who also has access to the �comfort of the scriptures� (Romans15:4). But there is still another �comforter.� Each believer receives such comfort so that we ourselves �may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.� HMM --------------------------- The Best Life There Is - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father�s one and only Son. �John 1:14 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-best-life-there-is/- Listen When we revisit the Christmas story, the problem is that we can become so familiar with it that we become indifferent toward it. In time, new things become old things. AndChristmas can become an old story for us. But let�s not miss the entire point of Christmas. The story doesn�t really start in Bethlehem; it starts long before, in another time and place. The time was eternity, and the place was Heaven. Before there was a planet calledEarth, before there were Adam and Eve who ate forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and brought the curse of sin upon humanity, a decision was made in Heaven. The decision was that God would have to become a man and die on our behalf. John 1:14 says, �So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father�sone and only Son� (NLT). And Revelation 13:8 describes Him as �the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made� (NLT). God had His own timetable. Galatians 4:4�5 tells us, �But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom forus who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children� (NLT). That is what we celebrate at Christmas: that God sent His Son to this earth. Jesus was God in human form, Immanuel. It�s a magnificent story. From a literary standpoint alone,these words touch us deeply. But this is more than just great literature. This is the truth about how God came to Earth. Specifically, Jesus came to a little village called Bethlehem. The Scriptures foretold His birth, saying, �But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among allthe people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf� (Micah 5:2 NLT). Because Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of King David, they went back to David�s boyhood home. God moved human events to accomplish His purposes. He moved Caesar Augustusto declare a census, which brought Joseph and Mary from their hometown of Nazareth to the village of Bethlehem. Things also were in place around the globe. At this point historically, all the nations of the world had been united under one system of imperial government. Rome had bludgeonedthe world into submission, vanquishing its enemies. With the absence of conflict, people concentrated on literature, philosophy, art, and religion. They were probing and searching. It was as though something was in the air�andit was. The time was just right. God was sending His Son. Jesus came to bring us the meaning and purpose of life. In fact, He said, �My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life� (John 10:10 NLT). Medical science seeks toadd years to our lives, but only Jesus Christ can add life to our years. -------------------------------- PrideGoes Before Destruction �Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.� (Proverbs16:18) This is the middle verse of the entire book of Proverbs, and, in view of the obviously structured original verse divisions throughout the book, it may well have been divinely designed as such. In any case, the sin of pride is so deadly, it is appropriate thata solemn warning concerning it should be placed here right at the heart of God�s book of true wisdom. The sin of pride was the primeval sin of Satan. �Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness� (Ezekiel28:17). It was the sin by which Satan led Adam and Eve to fall. �Ye shall be as gods� (Genesis3:5), he had said. It is always the �easily besetting� sin of Christian leaders, especially those who have assumed such leadership prematurely. �Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil� (1Timothy 3:6). Even Jesus was 30 years old before He began to teach. Though pride is not named as such in the Ten Commandments, in reality it is implied in the very first one. �Thou shalt have no other gods before me� (Exodus20:3). The essence of all false religion is evolutionary humanism�worshiping and serving the creature more than the Creator (Romans1:25). Pride and unbelief are two sides of the same coin. When men and women refuse the word of their Creator, it is fundamentally because they want to be their own �gods,� as did Adam and Eve. Human pride is the hidden root of humanism, and of evolutionism,and of �every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God� (2Corinthians 10:5). It is the very essence of the sin nature that we have inherited from our first parents. How carefully we need to guard against this secret sin of pride. If we do not, it will inevitably lead to humiliation and defeat. HMM ------------------------- TheseThings �For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitfulin the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.� (2 Peter 1:8) In this first chapter of Peter�s last epistle, he refers to �these things� (one word in the Greek) no less than six times. That they are extremely important things is evident from our text, but if these things are lacking, one is spiritually blind and has forgottenwhat Christ did for him in salvation (v. 9). However, if he does �these things,� he will never fall (v. 10). What then are the things that Peter stresses so urgently? Verse 8 makes it obvious that they constitute simply the hierarchical catalog of Christian attributes listed in verses 6 and 7�that is, faith, virtue (strength of character), knowledge, temperance (selfcontrol), patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity (unselfish love). The same word is used in verse 4, where it explains how we are enabled to acquire these traits of Christian character. �Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these [�by these things�] ye might be partakers of the divine nature.� When these things characterize our lives, we become nothing less than Christlike. He, in His humanity, was all these things as He shared our nature, and we have become partakers of His divine nature when we manifest them. The wonderful thing is that they are all mediated to us through the gracious promises of the Word of God. God promises, we believe and then receive! There is an effectual promise for the achievement of each stage in the growth of a Christlike character. Indeed,as Peter had already said by way of introduction, �his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue� (2Peter 1:3). HMM --------------------------- A Day of Great Joy - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. �Philippians 2:7 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-day-of-great-joy/- Listen It�s ironic that sometimes in all the busyness of Christmas, we can be ready for the season to be over. The theme of Christmas is joy. That�s certainly what we find in thepages of the Bible. Part of the problem is that we try to find joy and happiness in Christmas when we really need to find joy and happiness in Christ. There is a big difference. Many of us have read the Christmas story so many times that we might even have memorized it. It�s very familiar. And because of that, we can easily skip over it and not thinkabout what it means. Luke, who penned the Gospel that bears his name, was very meticulous in his reporting. He was a stickler for detail. He wanted to give us facts so we could pinpoint this eventin human time. Thus, he mentioned the fact that Caesar Augustus gave the decree for a census and that Quirinius was in power as well (see Luke 2:1�2). We know a little bit about these men from history. Caesar Augustus was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. He was a born fighter who had clawed his way into power by defeatingAntony and Cleopatra. Then through considerable genius and force, he gave the Roman Empire a solidity that lasted for centuries. It was also this Caesar who was the first to take on the title of Augustus, which means �of the gods� or �the holy and reveredone.� Interestingly, an inscription was found dating to the time of Caesar Augustus that described him as the savior of the world. That is how Caesar saw himself. Therefore, it�s especially interesting when we come to Luke 2:10�12, which says, �I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior�yes, the Messiah,the Lord�has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger� (NLT). Essentially the angel, with this announcement to the shepherds, was saying, �Don�t look to the palace of Rome for the Savior of the world. Look to the manger in Bethlehem.Don�t look at that self-proclaimed god in Rome. Look at that baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. There is the Savior of the world!� When we look at the life of Jesus and the Incarnation, we see that it isn�t a rags-to-riches story; it�s a riches-to-rags story. Jesus gave up everything for us. The first sensation on the tender skin of the baby Jesus would have been the rough, torn cloth in which He was wrapped. The Son of God, with tiny human ears, would have heardthe munching of hay by an ox or a donkey. What a rude awakening. Yet this was the sacrifice that He made for us. It was the ultimate gift to humanity. And what we must not lose sight of is that Christmas is all about joy�because a Saviorhas been born.