Luke 1:5-7
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
How do we deal with silence? I believe it is in times when it seems that God is silent that we experience great growth as believers. We must trust and patiently wait for God to show up. We have to trust Him enough not to act under our own power and understanding. Sometimes we try to influence and even force God's hand to work when He just wants us to wait patiently. God is always the initiator of the work! We can not force or create revival. God must bring revival. We can not force or create salvation God must bring salvation. We can not force or create peace. God must bring peace. Our part is to seek and pray. Abraham tried to intervene and force God's promise for a son. You know, he just wanted to help God along.... Like the Creator of the universe needs help creating! That's what we tend to think! However in a way it is natural for us to want to force things along because we have a creative nature. We have an embedded desire to make things happen. God placed that in us. We just have to learn to control that desire and place into submission under His leading. That is why I love the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were faithful servants of the Lord. He was a priest in Israel under the oppression of Roman law. God had not revealed Himself through any one in four hundred years. That's the time frame between the old and the new testaments of the bible. He was silent! He was still working, He was still in control, He was still on His throne, He was still God yet He was silent. It is in the silence that our God will find those who will faithfully serve Him and when God breaks the silence He will use those who faithfully serve Him! Zacharias and Elisabeth became instruments of God's breaking the silence in a BIG BIG WAY! They became the parents of John the Baptist. The forerunner of Jesus. After four hundred years of saying nothing God would send word through His messenger. To preach repentance to His people! Malachi 3:1 says,"Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,"Says the LORD of hosts." This prophesy was written four hundred years earlier and was fulfilled through Zacharias and Elisabeth. The news came by way of the Angel Gabriel as he announced in Luke 1:13-14,"Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. Wow to hear those words, "your prayer has been heard." The silence is over God is at work! He is breaking the silence! Salvation is coming, Deliverance is coming, Revival is coming, peace is coming! Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid in the silence! Stay faithful, stay hopeful and keep your heart open. God always breaks the silence with life changing, world changing purposes. Are you ready? I hope so. May God use us to change the world!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Greatest Gift
John 1:2-4
2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
When the worlds were framed and spoken into existence. Jesus was there. He said,"let there be light" and there was light. He formed man out of the dust in His own image and breathed the breath of life into him. God is love therefore God is creator. If you have ever wondered why God created you it is because of His great love. He created us out of His desire for a relationship with us! It is true that He created the angels before He created us but the relationship is different. If they fall out of fellowship with God they have no opportunity for restoration! Lucifer is a fallen angel who will never be reconciled to God. But we who are born in sin, begin life out of fellowship with God. We have an opportunity to love God in return. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." God's love draws us to Him and we have the choice to love Him or to reject His love. God will not force Himself upon us. This is what makes our relationship to Him so unique. We come into a relationship with Him knowing that He is first choosing us so that we might choose Him. This makes for a very special bond. This bond has incredible deep origins. This bond started at creation and has been exhibited down through the ages as God interacted with His people. There have been many defining moments and people in this bond. If we read the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, Ester, or Job we will truly see the common thread of a loving God. However the most defining person of this bond is Jesus. When God became a person! No one has ever or will ever compare to Him! His timing was perfect and His mission was clear. Save mankind! Restore the love relationship once and for all! Galatians 4:4-6 says, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out,"Abba, Father!" Jesus was born to finalize the bond and those who trust Him will be with Him forever! Every time I think of this fact I am always amazed..... How could God love us so much? He made the perfect world, We messed up the world with our sin. He entered the sinful world with a special delivery of personal love and righteousness to all who would receive Him. He gave His own life on the cross for all of humanity. Taking the penalty of sin upon Himself so that we may come into a love relationship with Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, 'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." He became our sin so that sin could be defeated and in return we can become His righteousness! God wants to trade! You give Him your sin so that He may do away with it. He will give you His righteousness which can never be done away with! Thus sealing bond and becoming a child of the most High God! Our opening verses say that in Him is the life and the light of men. That is who He is and who He must become in every person who wishes to seal this bond of love! This is the season that we celebrate the birth of Jesus! It is not very often that we think past the manger, the wise men and the shepherds! We don't often consider the Creator and His love for us. He created you so that He could love you. That has never changed and it never will. So I invite you to enjoy the greatest gift that has ever been given! It was given on the first Christmas and has been offered and given everyday since! It is an expensive gift, however it has already been paid for. Jesus paid for it with His own blood.
"What's the gift ?" you ask. It is the gift of an eternal love relationship with the one who created you. All you need do is call upon His name, Romans 10:13 For"whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
When the worlds were framed and spoken into existence. Jesus was there. He said,"let there be light" and there was light. He formed man out of the dust in His own image and breathed the breath of life into him. God is love therefore God is creator. If you have ever wondered why God created you it is because of His great love. He created us out of His desire for a relationship with us! It is true that He created the angels before He created us but the relationship is different. If they fall out of fellowship with God they have no opportunity for restoration! Lucifer is a fallen angel who will never be reconciled to God. But we who are born in sin, begin life out of fellowship with God. We have an opportunity to love God in return. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." God's love draws us to Him and we have the choice to love Him or to reject His love. God will not force Himself upon us. This is what makes our relationship to Him so unique. We come into a relationship with Him knowing that He is first choosing us so that we might choose Him. This makes for a very special bond. This bond has incredible deep origins. This bond started at creation and has been exhibited down through the ages as God interacted with His people. There have been many defining moments and people in this bond. If we read the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, Ester, or Job we will truly see the common thread of a loving God. However the most defining person of this bond is Jesus. When God became a person! No one has ever or will ever compare to Him! His timing was perfect and His mission was clear. Save mankind! Restore the love relationship once and for all! Galatians 4:4-6 says, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out,"Abba, Father!" Jesus was born to finalize the bond and those who trust Him will be with Him forever! Every time I think of this fact I am always amazed..... How could God love us so much? He made the perfect world, We messed up the world with our sin. He entered the sinful world with a special delivery of personal love and righteousness to all who would receive Him. He gave His own life on the cross for all of humanity. Taking the penalty of sin upon Himself so that we may come into a love relationship with Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, 'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." He became our sin so that sin could be defeated and in return we can become His righteousness! God wants to trade! You give Him your sin so that He may do away with it. He will give you His righteousness which can never be done away with! Thus sealing bond and becoming a child of the most High God! Our opening verses say that in Him is the life and the light of men. That is who He is and who He must become in every person who wishes to seal this bond of love! This is the season that we celebrate the birth of Jesus! It is not very often that we think past the manger, the wise men and the shepherds! We don't often consider the Creator and His love for us. He created you so that He could love you. That has never changed and it never will. So I invite you to enjoy the greatest gift that has ever been given! It was given on the first Christmas and has been offered and given everyday since! It is an expensive gift, however it has already been paid for. Jesus paid for it with His own blood.
"What's the gift ?" you ask. It is the gift of an eternal love relationship with the one who created you. All you need do is call upon His name, Romans 10:13 For"whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)