DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 12.9.23

 Wisdomand Might Are His “Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his.” (Daniel2:20) Men have sought wisdom all through the ages, “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2Timothy 3:7). Others have sought great power. But then we read of Alexander the Great weeping because there were no more worlds to conquer, and we see one rich man after another who cannot bring himself to say, “It is enough.” The problem is, of course, that they are searching for wisdom and might in the wrong places, and thus they can never be satisfied. Wisdom and might belong only to God. In the Lord Jesus Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians2:3), and to Him has been given “all power...in heaven and in earth” (Matthew28:18). God, revealed in Christ, is both omniscient and omnipotent, and true wisdom and true riches must come only from Him. Therefore, “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...and it shall be given him” (James1:5). If we are in need of strength, we must become weak, for “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2Corinthians 12:10). If we need riches, we must know poverty, for before Christ can commit to us “the true riches,” we must be found “faithful in that which is least” (Luke16:10-11). Daniel’s testimony, as recorded in this passage, was given to the most powerful monarch on Earth, with access to all the wisdom of the most highly educated men of the age. But neither human might nor human wisdom could solve his problem. Only Daniel, drawingon the wisdom and power of the God of creation, could meet his need. God’s servants, even today, have the same privilege and responsibility, because our God is “for ever and ever.” HMM ------------------------ Eveand the Saving Seed “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” (Genesis4:1) Recent translators have followed a tradition of including the word “from” in this verse. The original Hebrew does not have it. A stricter translation would read, “I have begotten a man, the LORD.” For Eve to have given birth to the Lord might sound strange,but it suggests that we should ask whether Eve could have believed she had given birth to the promised One. Eve did not know that Mary actually would deliver that God-Man 58 generations later (Luke3:23-38). Eve heard the Lord’s curse given in Genesis 3, including the promise of a woman-born Savior. God told the deceiver He would “put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis3:15). Who could blame Eve if she felt that her first child would be the “seed” who would defeat the deceiver and redeem us from the curse? Eve knew she needed a redeemer. After all, the Lord had told her and her husband, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thoureturn” (Genesis3:19). Any rescue from this doom would therefore require a perfect man—one who had no sin of his own to condemn him. Only the Lord God is perfect, so He would have to become a man. Thus, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians4:4-5). Eve was possibly expressing trust in a saving Seed. We definitely should! BDT -------------------------- HisAmazing Grace “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father andin the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1) These are the very first of Paul’s divinely inspired words, and in this first of his inspired greetings, he set a pattern that he would later follow in all his other epistles. He would always begin with an implicit prayer that both grace and peace, sent fromGod the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be received and experienced by the ones to whom he was writing. Furthermore, “grace” always precedes “peace” in these salutations, because one must receive the grace of God before he can experience thepeace of God. By this strong emphasis on grace—preceding anything else he might write to the church or its pastor—he confirmed the great importance of God’s loving grace. Grace is the first essential in salvation and is the continuing vital essential in Christian living.The Thessalonians had already been saved by grace through faith, but now the grace of God their Father and Jesus Christ their Lord must also be lived out in their personal behavior, especially in their dealings with others, to whom God would also manifestHis grace through them. Paul also closed every epistle with a prayer that the grace of the Lord Jesus would continue to be with all who read them. Finally, the last of his inspired words (written while he was in prison) to his young disciple Timothy were: “The Lord Jesus Christ bewith thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:22). Each true Christian life must begin, continue, and end in the sustaining grace of the Savior. Indeed, the very last revealed words of God Himself in the Holy Scriptures are “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation22:21). Thank God for His amazing grace. HMM ------------------------- ThePeace of the God of Peace “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through ChristJesus.” (Philippians 4:7) For generations, most of the world’s people have longed for peace, but the world continues to be at war. Evolutionists attribute this to ages of violent evolutionary struggle; the Bible attributes it to sin! But it is wonderfully possible to have real personal peace even in a world at war. This is what the Bible calls “the peace of God,” and it surpasses all human understanding because it is provided by the God of peace, for the writer continues, “The God of peaceshall be with you” (v. 9). The God of peace! There are some wonderful promises associated with this beautiful name of our Lord. For example, “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans16:20). Also, “the very God of peace sanctify you wholly” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The provision of God’s perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3) is specifically invoked in 2 Thessalonians 3:16: “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace alwaysby all means.” Perhaps the greatest promise of all is implied in the concluding prayer of the book of Hebrews: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:20-21). There is only one other reference to the peace of God: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians3:15). The peace of God, from the God of peace, can rule in our hearts if we let it rule in our hearts. Then, as promised in our text, it will also keep our hearts! HMM --------------------- FourHundred Years of Waiting - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. �Luke 1:11 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/four-hundred-years-of-waiting/- Listen C.S. Lewis said, �The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.� We live by time. God is outside of time. This doesn�t mean that God isn�t aware of time, because He is completely aware of every minute and second of our lives and everythingthat happens in them. But He lives in the eternal realm. God�s interpretation of time is quite different from ours. He has His timing. And there are times in life when it appears as though Godis late, that He is somehow disengaged and not paying attention. Sometimes as we look at the way things are, we wonder whether God is aware of what the world is like. Why has Christ not come back? The implication is that God is somehowoff schedule. However, the Bible says of Christ�s return, �The Lord isn�t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not wantanyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent� (2 Peter 3:9 NLT). Jesus Christ will come back to this earth at the appointed time that God has determined. When Jesus came to Earth the first time, the people of Israel were tired of waiting. They felt it was time for the Messiah to arrive. These were difficult and dark days inIsrael�s history. They were under the control of Rome and the tyrannical rule of the puppet king known as Herod. The fact is that 6 BC was a lousy time to live in Judea. The people hadn�t heard from God for 400 years. Not a single prophet had said, �Thus saith the Lord. . . .� There hadn�t been any miracles or angelic appearances. Instead,there was a stony silence from Heaven. The people were probing, searching, and wondering when things would change. But there was a sense that something was in the air, that something was about to break. And indeed, it was. The moment was coming for the Messiah to arrive. It all began with the aged priest Zechariah, who was in the temple bringing sacrifices on behalf of the people. The angel Gabriel appeared with the announcement that he wouldbe the father of John the Baptist the forerunner of Jesus. It was a day like any other day when the supernatural invaded the natural. It was the day that God chose to reveal to Zechariah that he was going to be the father of the forerunnerof the Messiah. Zechariah was praying, and God heard him and answered his prayer. The Bible says, �Don�t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done� (Philippians 4:6 NLT). No matter whatyou�re facing, no matter what kind of challenges you�re going through, you need to pray. There may be things that we go through in life that don�t make sense. But one day we will know. Until then, we must trust God and surrender ourselves to Him. --------------------------------- A Lesson from Mary - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. �1 Corinthians 1:27 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-lesson-from-mary-2/- Listen There are a lot of misperceptions about Mary. On one hand, people place her on a pedestal. And on the other hand, she is ignored and misunderstood. But Mary was a godly personliving in a godless place. And she showed us that it�s possible for someone to live a godly life even while living in the midst of an ungodly environment. Mary lived in Nazareth, which, for the mostpart, was not a popular destination. God could have chosen someone from Rome to bear the Messiah. After all, Rome was ruling most of the world at that time. God could have chosen someone from Jerusalem, the spiritualcapital of the world. Or, God could have chosen someone from Athens, the intellectual and cultural capital of the world. But God didn�t choose someone from any of these places. Instead, He chose a young woman who was living in Nazareth. Roman soldiers overran Nazareth, an obscure place known for its wickedness. That is why Nathanael, when he heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, said, �Can anything good comefrom Nazareth?� (John 1:46 NLT). Yet God chose Mary and this obscure place to accomplish His purpose. He chose an unknown teenager living in an unknown place to bring about the most known event in human history:the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems that God goes out of His way to choose the most unexpected people to accomplish His plans. The Bible is filled with examples of the most ordinary individuals beingchosen by God to do the most extraordinary things. Mary was genuinely humble. She was surprised when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, �Don�t be afraid, Mary, . . . for you have found favor with God! You will conceiveand give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David� (Luke 1:30�32 NLT). When we think of certain men and women of the Bible, we see them in their greatness because of what God did. But remember, when God called David, he was a shepherd boy whosefather didn�t even acknowledge him. Yet God instructed the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the next king of Israel. When God chose Gideon, he was hiding from his enemies. And when God called Simon Peter, he was out catching fish. But the Lord raised him up to be one of the great apostles.And God chose Mary to bring about the arrival of the Messiah. The apostle Paul wrote, �Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world�s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chosethings the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful� (1 Corinthians 1:26�27 NLT). ---------------------------- A Surrendered Heart - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. �Philippians 1:6 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-surrendered-heart/- Listen If you were involved in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, would you be tempted to brag about it a little? Mary easily could have gone to her friends and said, �Hey, haveyou checked out Isaiah 7:14 lately? You know, the part where it says, �The virgin will conceive a child�? Well, you�re looking at her!� Mary, however, didn�t do anything of the kind. She was amazed, even flabbergasted, that God had chosen her to be the one to bear the Messiah. But then she had a question, which was a logical one considering the circumstances: �But how can this happen? I am a virgin� (Luke 1:34 NLT). Now, Mary was not doubting or questioning the angel Gabriel. This had more to do with methodology. And Gabriel answered her because it was a legitimate question. He said, �The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God� (verse 35 NLT). In the same way, sometimes we look at what God asks of us and wonder how we can possibly accomplish it. We think, �How can I live a godly life in this culture?� Or �How canI, as a single person, be sexually pure and wait for the right person that God will bring to me?� Or �How can I, as a married person, remain faithful to my spouse, honest in my work, and uncompromised in my principles?� The answer that Gabriel gave to Mary applies to us as well: �For with God nothing will be impossible� (verse 37 NKJV). God will complete the work He has begun in our lives. The angel promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary, and the Holy Spirit comes upon us as well. God will give us the power to do what He has called us to do. Although Mary didn�t fully understand, she was obedient to God�s will for her life. In essence she said, �It�s a done deal, Lord.� She didn�t ask for a detailed explanation.She simply said, �I am the Lord�s servant. May everything you have said about me come true� (verse 38 nlt). Often we want to know God�s will before we submit to it. But if we want to know God�s will for our lives, we first need to surrender ourselves to Him. As Alan Redpath said, �The condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart.� The apostle Paul wrote, �And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice�thekind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him� (Romans 12:1 NLT). We want to know the perfect will of God. But God is saying, �Submit yourself to Me, and I will tell you. First, give yourself over to Me.� Mary did that. She submitted herwill to God. Have you surrendered your heart to Jesus Christ? ------------------------------ Addingto God�s Word �For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall addunto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.� (Revelation22:18) This very sober warning right at the end of the Bible was given by Christ Himself (note verse 20) to indicate that the written Scriptures were now complete, and it would be a serious sin for some pseudo-prophet to come along presenting some alleged new revelationfrom God. That this warning applies to the entire Bible, not just to the book of Revelation, should be obvious but is made especially clear when it is remembered that Jesus promised His chosen disciples that the Holy Spirit �shall teach you all things, andbring all things to your remembrance,� and furthermore, that �he will guide you into all truth:...and he will shew you things to come� (John14:26; 16:13). This special revelation to the �apostles and prophets� of the New Testament would constitute the �foundation� of the church and would be complete when the last of these �holy apostles and prophets� were gone. (Study carefully Ephesians 2:19�3:11.) When John completed the Apocalypse, he was very old; all the other apostles and prophets of the New Testament had already died (all by martyrdom), so God�s written Word was now complete. No new revelation would be needed before Christreturns. We shall do well if we just learn what we already have received from His holy apostles and prophets. Note also the emphasis on �the words,� not just the concepts. God was able to say what He meant, and we are wise if we take His words literally. Jesus warned about �false prophets� who would come after He left (Matthew24:24), and there have been many of these through the centuries. The Bible as we now have it is sufficient for every need. HMM ------------------------------ TheBrightness of the Glory �Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things bythe word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.� (Hebrews 1:3) This verse constitutes one of Scripture�s most magnificent declarations of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us examine the phrase �the brightness of his glory.� The word for �brightness� is used only this one time in the Bible and means, literally, �out-radiating.� The word picture conveyed is of the energy overflow from the sun. The sun constitutes a tremendous generator of energy, more than adequate to sustain allprocesses on Earth. However, these energies would be utterly useless for any such noble purpose if they could not somehow be transmitted from sun to Earth. They are transmitted, however, through the remarkable radiant energy known as sunlight, or solar radiation. It is this figure that the writer is using. As the sun�s rays are to the sun itself, so is Christ to the Godhead. He is �the light of the world� (John 8:12).It is He whose �goings forth� have been �everlasting� (Micah 5:2). His glorified countenance is �as the sun shineth in his strength� (Revelation1:16). The Lord Jesus Christ is the life-giving radiation of the ineffable glory of the eternal One, from whose face one day the very heaven and earth will flee away (Revelation20:11). �But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings [or �outspreadings�]� (Malachi 4:2). And through this One who mediates God to us, we can enter boldly into His presence. �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 ------------------------------- No Time for God? - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adoptus as his very own children. �Galatians 4:4�5 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/no-time-for-god/- Listen The birth of Jesus Christ divided human time. Rome had established control over much of the world at this point. The Pax Romana, a period of peace during the Roman Empire,was a time of brutal peace. The Romans cared most about two things: submission to Rome and a steady flow of wealth into Roman coffers. But with the absence of war, many people were rediscovering art, literature, and philosophy, and they were asking questions. They were talking about human destiny and themeaning of life. �When the right time came,� the Bible says, �God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so thathe could adopt us as his very own children� (Galatians 4:4�5 NLT). Caesar Augustus thought he was a powerful man, and he was, but he also was a pawn in the hand of God Almighty. That�s because history is His story. Thus, God moved Augustusto accomplish His purposes, reminding us that God is in control. He is sovereign over all nations and over all people. The Bible says, �The king�s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases� (Proverbs 21:1 NLT). God can move the heart of a king,queen, prime minister, president, senator, congressman, or CEO. God will accomplish His purposes. Augustus thought that by ordering a census, he would have greater control over the world. But in the end, all he did was run an errand for God. The Lord needed Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem because Scripture prophesied, �But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a rulerof Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf� (Micah 5:2 NLT). Joseph and Mary made the ninety-mile journey to Bethlehem for the census that Augustus decreed. We like to imagine scenes of Joseph and Mary silhouetted against a full moonon such a beautiful night. But the reality is that it was a very difficult and dangerous journey, especially for a woman in the ninth month of her pregnancy. You would have hoped the hardships would have ended when they finally arrived in Bethlehem. But the Bible says, �There was no room for them in the inn� (Luke 2:7 NKJV). Thisdoesn�t vilify the innkeeper (if there was indeed an innkeeper); it simply presents him for who he was: a man who was preoccupied and busy. You would have thought he could have found it in his heart to make room for a woman who was ready to give birth at anymoment. But he sent Joseph and Mary to a barn, or more likely a cave, where the Savior of the world was born. There are people today who are just like this innkeeper. They don�t have any time in their lives for God. But we had better make room for Him. As the Christmas hymn �Joy tothe World� reminds us, �Let every heart prepare Him room.� Make time for Him today. ------------------------------ God'sWays Are Best �And the word of the LORD came unto [Elijah], saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon,and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.� (1 Kings 17:8-9) The leading of God is not always clear to our understanding or satisfying to our pride, but it is always directed to God�s glory and our good. Elijah had been supernaturally fed by ravens until the brook of Cherith dried up due to the very drought that Elijahhad prophesied. Then, instead of supernaturally providing water, God told Elijah to move to a village in Zidon to stay with a poor widow who would feed him. But Zidon was the home of the idolatrous queen Jezebel, who would soon become Elijah�s implacable enemy. Furthermore, he would have to so humble himself as to request that the widow share what she thought would be her last meal with a stranger whom she hadnever met and who had claimed to be the prophet of a God she did not know. What a strange way for God to deal with His servant! Nevertheless, Elijah obeyed God without question, and so did the widow of Zarephath, and thus the Lord was able to perform two of His mightiest miracles of creation. At the same time, He was able to meet the deep spiritual needs, as well as the physical needs,of this unlikely duo�the greatest spiritual leader of his age and an insignificant widow. An amazing daily miracle of continuing the creation of oil and meal took place as long as the drought continued. And then an even more amazing miracle was accomplishedwhen, for the first time in all history so far as the record goes, one who was dead (the widow�s son) was restored to life (1 Kings 17:20-24), and the womancame to believe that Jehovah was the true God. God�s ways may not be our ways, but they are always best. May He give us the grace always to obey His word, whether or not we fully understand. HMM ---------------------------- A God Who Understands - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But Jesus replied, �Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.� �Luke 9:58 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-god-who-understands/- Listen The reception that the world gave Mary and Joseph before Christ was born is typical of the reception it gave Jesus when He was here on this earth. Jesus Himself said, �Foxeshave dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head� (Luke 9:58 NLT). We�ve romanticized the story of Jesus� birth in our Nativity scenes, with Mary, Joseph, and the baby in a stable full of adoring animals. Meanwhile, the shepherds and wisemen look on as a bright star shines in the distance and angels fly overhead. But the reality is that the birth of Jesus was cold, unsanitary, and difficult. He was wrapped not in satin but in cheap rags. That doesn�t diminish the story. Rather, itenhances it to show the humiliation that Christ went through to enter this world of ours. It symbolizes His entire life on Earth from the cradle to the cross. Jesus could have been born in the most elegant mansion on the ritziest boulevard in the Roman Empire.He could have had aristocratic parents. He could have had the finest clothes from the most exclusive shops. And He could have had legions of angels at His beck and call. But He did not. Instead, He laid it all aside. Think about it: Jesus was born in a cave. He borrowed food to feed a crowd. He borrowed a coin to illustrate a truth. And He rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and celebratedPassover in a borrowed room. He even died on a borrowed cross that was meant for another: Barabbas. Then He was laid in a borrowed tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. C.H. Spurgeon said that Jesus was �infinite, and an infant�eternal, and yet born of a woman . . . supporting the universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother�s arms.� Philippians 2:6�7 points out, �Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humbleposition of a slave and was born as a human being� (NLT). He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. Jesus Christ was deity in diapers. Jesus was God in Heaven. Then He was God as an embryo, God as a baby, God as a man, God on the cross, and God rising again. He never ceased to be God. But He did lay asidesome of the privileges of deity. Philippians goes on to say, �When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal�s death on a cross� (2:7�8 NLT). Jesus humbled Himself and walked this earth and breathed our air and lived our life. And then He died our death. We have a God in Heaven who understands what it�s like towalk through this life. He literally felt our pain. And He went through all of this for us.