Archive for January 2016

Jesus Is God with Us

2016-01-07 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Matthew 1:18-25; 28:16-20

Jesus is God with Us. He is the loving God who eagerly comes to His people, even when they don’t deserve Him or His grace. That is the clear message of Matthew 1, the first chapter of the New Testament. Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus, showing that Messiah descended from a family with its share of moral outcasts. He then applies to Jesus the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (NASB). This son of a disgraced Jewish maiden, conceived before marriage, was indeed God with us.

Matthew 2 continues with the same theme, showing that gentiles from far outside God’s people were among the very first called to worship this King of all Kings.

Jesus’ earthly ministry ends the same way in Matthew’s last chapter, with Jesus commanding His disciples to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, NASB). This God with us was to be the Father’s gift to all people, including those who had never known Him and never sought Him.

Jesus’ life was thus framed with His purpose to be God with us. All the days in-between were filled with the same. He only did the Father’s works:

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does…By myself I can do nothing.” (John 5:19, 30, NIV)

He only spoke the Father’s words:

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24, NIV)

Jesus came saying what the Father would say and doing what the Father would do among us: healing, teaching, cleansing, feeding, and calling us to join Him in His work. The Father sent His only Son out of His burning desire to be truly with His people.

Christ Helps Me Pray

2016-01-05 Devotional with Hymn No comments

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27, NASB)

Father, the more I talk to You,
the more I realize that
I don’t know how to talk to You.
I want to better know how to pray.

I look to Your Son Jesus as my example, and
I hear such beautiful, personal faith in His prayers, such
trust,
submission, and
worship.
But His only prayers I see recorded in the gospels are
a few prayed on special occasions,
intentionally formed for His disciples to hear.
How did He speak to You when
You and He were alone?
On those occasions when He prayed all night,
what did He say?
What did You talk about?

But Father, You show me that
Jesus helps our prayers in far greater ways than this.

When His disciples asked Him how to pray,
He gave a short prayer that models how we are to speak to You.
Through that prayer, He taught us to speak to You
as a child speaking to his or her Father,
simply,
honestly,
trustingly,
with our hearts turned to You.

But what’s more, Jesus has given us His own Spirit.
This Spirit leads us to You and
binds us to You,
as Father and child.
His new life cries out to You from within us,
“Daddy!
Father!”

Your Son Jesus helps us pray,
not by leaving us His prayers written on a page,
but by breathing His own Spirit within us.
This Spirit helps us pray
when we don’t know how.
He takes our
simple,
childish,
fumbling prayers
and speaks directly to You on our behalf
as only He can.

So Father, I come to You as Your Son taught us.
I come as a child,
pretending to be nothing else.
I come with no hiding, with my
weaknesses,
failures, and
imperfect self in full view.
I come in the Spirit of Christ, relying on Him to
shape my heart,
form my words, and
graciously speak for me.

Father, I come to You in Jesus Christ,
trusting in Him alone.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Our Father Exalted
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Christ the Light

2016-01-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12, NASB)

We walk every day through the darkness of this world,
in the shadow of
our ignorance,
our weakness, and
our mortality.

But Jesus Christ is the Light.
As we walk in Him,
our steps are certain,
our strength is sufficient, and
our life is full and forever.

We are bathed in God’s presence.
We are guided by His wisdom.
We are supported by His power.
We are cradled by His love.

As we follow Christ,
we never walk in darkness.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Jesus, the Light of the World
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

  Recent Entries »