Tag Archive for John 1:10-14

The Father’s Children

2017-12-26 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER
John 1:10-14; 3:18-21

The Word became flesh and walked among us
in the power, love, and wisdom of the Father.
Yet most who saw the incarnate God
stumbled at Him.
The Son came to the world He had created and
walked among His own people,
yet they refused Him.
His hometown rejected their famous son and
in anger tried to kill Him (Luke 4:18-30).
The most religious people of the day,
the ones who seemed to know God the best and
follow Him the most diligently,
considered the Son a charlatan, a fake, and a devil.
They saw undeniable signs.
They watched as He repeatedly demonstrated
unearthly authority
over demons, disease, and death.
Still they vehemently denied Him.

Most people who see the Light
run from it and cling to the darkness.
Their deeds are evil, and
the Light seems a threat.

But with those who simply turn to Him and trust Him,
the Son shares His own beautiful relationship
with the Father.
He gives them the right to become
children of God.
He shares with them
the life,
the love,
the oneness
He shares with the Father.

Realize who you are.
You are not your occupation or your abilities.
You are not your gender, race, or social status.
You are not your past.
You trusted Christ, and
now you are becoming like Him.
Look to Him.
He is your present and your future.
With Him, you are a beloved child of Almighty God,
your Papa, your Father.
You are His heir and His treasure. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Are Children
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Fall and Incarnation

2017-11-22 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER
John 1:10-14; Genesis 2 – 3 

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:10-14, NASB)

Father, Son, and Spirit gifted the humans with the freedom
to will and speak and breathe,
to live and create and rule.
They shared with the human beings the right to
think and choose.

A Rebel, a Liar, a Hater, a Destroyer,
a created being who had turned his own gift of choice
entirely toward himself,
seduced the humans into doing the same.
They chose
their own will,
their own wisdom,
their own sovereignty instead of the Father and Son.
They chose
darkness instead of light,
shame instead of glory,
a curse instead of blessing,
grief instead of joy,
death instead of life.

But the love of the One Being was
still full and overflowing,
still giving and longing for the creature He had made.
Instead of abandoning the humans,
He drew still closer to them.
From His unquenchable love,
the One Being came to them.
He didn’t send them a messenger:
He came Himself.
He didn’t just speak to them.
He joined Himself to them.
He became one with them.
He became one of them.

When the time was right,
the Father willed, and
the Spirit breathed, and
and the Word became flesh.
Heaven and earth,
holy and human,
creature and Creator
were again One.

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven.
By the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and
became man. 

–from THE NICENE CREED 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Before the Starry Universe
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics