Saturday, December 17, 2016

The Daily Readings for SUNDAY, December 18, 2016- 4th Sunday in Advent


Light four candles to watch for Messiah:
let the light banish darkness.
He is coming, tell the glad tidings.
Let your light be shining.

First Reading
from the Old Testament

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. (Isaiah 7:10-16, NRSV)

This is the Word of the Lord

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 Prayer for Israel’s Restoration
1  Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2  before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3  Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4  O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5  You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6  You make us the scorn[a] of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7  Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
16  They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17  But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18  Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.


Second Reading
from the Epistles

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7, NRSV)

This is the Word of the Lord

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.

The Finger Prints of God....Visible - The Sunday Sermon for SUNDAY, December 18, 2016 - 4th Sunday in Advent


The Holy Gospel
according to St Matthew, the 1st Chapter

Glory to You, O Lord

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25, NRSV)

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

"The Finger Prints of God....Visible"

Each and every Christmas I am amazed at the impact of the old, old story of God’s incarnation has on people. We have not grown weary of this ancient story. A baby in a manger. Shepherds in a field. The light and music of angels filled the dark sky. After 2000 plus years of exhausting repetition why do the events in the small Jewish village of Bethlehem still intrigue us?

Is it the momentum of long established traditions? Homes are decorated with juniper and holly. We deck our shrubs and frame our homes with tiny white lights. Our living rooms display a decorated tree. Ornaments commemorate vacation memories past or family history. Nativity scenes grace our lawns and mantles.

Ironic, all this decking and glitter when the movement of God that Christmas recalls is away from glitter and tinsel.

The event of Christmas is about remembering who is responsible for this whole Christmas thing. The truth of Christmas is wrapped in the words of the angel. “Today a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.” It was and remains a message of joy. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever would believe in him might have eternal life.”

It was a very bold thing for God to do. God chose to take upon Himself human finger prints. Unique. Special. The baby, born in Bethlehem, to Mary and Joseph, like every other human baby, was born in the normal way. Yet, at the same time God Himself, the Creator of the universe decided to enter human history and possess his own special and unique finger prints. Mary and Joseph gave him the name Jesus, just as the angel had told them.

Did you know that Christmas was originally a worship service called the Christ Mass, a celebration of the Incarnation? It was and is a celebration of the first in kind event when God became a human being; deity put on flesh and blood. For a period of time, the invisible Creator of all things came to live on earth as a human being.

The great theologian G.K. Chesterton correctly called the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem an “enormous exception”, something absolutely unique.

We realize that in this economic driven culture in which we now live, the word “incarnation” does not sell toys. The celebration of the “Christ Mass” will not bring human eyes to view the windows in the stores of merchants.

To be sure most people believe that there was some kind of Creator or “Intelligent Designer” who made the universe and then stepped away. The scientific fact that galaxies don’t crash into each other and the knowledge that gravity holds things in place cannot be a random accident.

But to acknowledge that an omnipotent Creator would take the form of a helpless infant, in which the hands that made the universe would become hands too small to reach beyond a crib, staggers the human mind. Yet this is the miracle of the Incarnation. This is the celebration of the Christ Mass.

Never before, nor sense, has any religion ever even hinted that the One invisible maker of all things became a human being and dwelt on earth, but this is what Christianity claims for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. It was a bold thing for God to do in order to be known.

He chose to have the fate of the world rest upon the response of a small town teenage girl and her 20 plus year old fiancé. How many times did Mary go over the words of the angel, as she felt the growing infant kicking against the wall of her uterus? How many times must Joseph have second guessed his own encounter with the angel – just a dream?

How easy it would have been for Joseph to explain away a dream while living under the gossip of neighbors who could plainly see the changing shape of the woman he planned to marry.

I am impressed that when the Son of God became a human being he played by the rules, harsh rules. For we all know small towns do not treat kindly young boys who grow up with a questionable paternity.

When the story of the “incarnation” was told the Romans laughed at the idea of a “god” becoming flesh with real finger prints. Oh, sure, a Roman “god” might have a fling with a mortal woman and then disappear to a better realm. But then, you know your side of the tracks and the gods know theirs. The Creator of the Universe taking upon himself flesh and bone, born into the world as an infant…Hilarious!

The celebration of the Incarnation; the celebration of the Christ Mass… is politically incorrect. The word Christmas may work very well if one has lost true reason for the season. Growing up did you ever think that even the word “Christmas” would become a political hot potato? And so, in a world that does not want to dig deep into the meaning life and death and God’s offer of eternal life seeks a new word: Holiday Trees. Holiday Lane. And Happy Holiday.

Christmas is not about a colorful package with a bow under a glittering tree. Christmas is not about what one finds in a stocking hung by the chimney with care. Christmas is about a baby! A crying infant desperate for the need of a warm breast, loving eyes and a soft voice. How foolish for the Creator of the world to choose his own set of finger prints.

Even the Devil could see God’s foolish decision. In the wilderness he offered Jesus the opportunity to be a real King with real geography and adoring crowds. Jesus declined.

One of the Christmas cards we received several years ago reminds of true joy that fills our hearts at Christmas.


“If our greatest need had been for information
God would have sent an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money
God would have sent an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure
God would have sent an entertainer.

But our greatest need was the forgiveness of sins
So God sent a Savior.”

The angel’s message had come to Mary. The angel’s message had come to Joseph, “Mary will give birth to a son by the Holy Spirit…”you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) It is appropriate that we sing the hymn Isaac Watts wrote almost 300 years ago. “Joy to the World, the Lord has Come, Let earth receive her King.”

The ancient words of the Apostle’s Creed …… conceived by the Holy Spirit born of a virgin Mary …… points to the fundamental fact of the Christian faith. In Jesus Christ, God became one of us. In becoming flesh, God did not delegate salvation to a surrogate. He came himself.

The event of Christmas recalls the moment in human history when the Almighty God deliberately put himself in such a state that Satan could tempt him, demons could taunt him, and lowly human beings could slap his face and nail him to a cross. What a fool hardy thing for God to do?

Against the claims of religious relativism, Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds accepted the angel’s message. The Apostle Paul explains the mystery of the incarnation this way. “God was pleased to have all of his full Deity dwell in Jesus. He is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) through this infant born of Mary. God the Father through Jesus “reconciled to himself all things, whether things in heaven or on earth by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.”

“Once you were alienated from God because of your evil behavior but now – through faith” in the Child of Bethlehem who was crucified on a cross – God has again established and secured forgiveness and brought about “reconciliation by the physical body of Jesus through his death on the cross to present you holy and without blemish and free from accusation for your sin – IF you,” (Colossians 1:20-23) like Mary and Joseph continue in your faith, trusting the words and promise of God through the angel. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord. The baby in Mary’s arms, the baby in the manger is God in flesh.

Listen to the story again as told by Walter Wangerin as taken from “The Book of God”.

On a cold and damp night the midnight fires of the shepherds had collapsed into sparks and red embers. The shepherds shared the long night watch and felt the silence of the stars, tiny dots in the sky. All at once the stars began to explode. The shepherds became wide awake. Frightened. The sheep began to bleat, looking for an escape into the dark. The stars, tens of thousands began flashing like white fires in the black sky.

The shepherds were immobilized. Between the glorious notion in the heavens and the dark earth below there now appeared a single endless pillar of pure white fire. The fire spoke: “don’t be afraid.” Within the fire a brilliant human form, smooth, huge and very beautiful, his feet upon the mountains.

The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy which shall come to all people. Unto you is born this night in the city of David, A Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign for you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

Suddenly a swarm of fiery heavenly hosts swooped down and filled the skies praising God. The air itself was the music of the angels. The shepherds pushed the gate shut, testing the latch and began to walk up the valley. Their legs were light. They saw the fires of Bethlehem. There they found Mary and Joseph and the Baby.

“Does the baby have a name?” They asked. “Then Joseph remembered the words of the angel: “You shall call him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” Yes, His name is Jesus.”

The Creator of the Universe, who has the power to create life from nothing, the power to destroy the universe with a breath, chose to take upon himself His own personal set of finger prints. A mystery my mind cannot understand. God dwelt among us. By faith my heart acknowledges this historical event. God was about the task of bringing those of us who were separated from His holiness by our sinful behavior back into a relationship of love with Himself.

“Christmas demands faith, because the “incarnation” is a mystery. Our reason can not succeed in trying to understand how God could have loved us to such a degree. Martin Luther penned these words to describe the “incarnation”:

“O Lord, you have created all!
How did you become so small?
To sweetly sleep in a manger bed
Where lowly cattle lately fed.”


Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that he gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have eternal life.” 

(Corrie ten Boom)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted. Sermon shared by Clarence Eisberg Dec 14, 2010.

LHM Daily Devotion - "Regrets"


And immediately his (Zechariah's) mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. (Luke 1:64, ESV)

Read Luke 1:64-66

Squeezing together at Christmas time can put a strain on even the closest of families. Cutting words can splinter and scar a family for years. Perhaps this Christmas will see empty places around your table -- and deep regret in your heart.

Zechariah knew that regret well. Nine long months went by since he spoke a word. Out of disappointment he last used his voice to blurt out his doubts about the angel's promise. Over the months his faith has been restored by the wonderful things he has seen and experienced, but his last words still echo in his mind.

But along with that echo are the words of the angel, "You will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place" (Luke 1:20). One by one everything the angel predicted has occurred, and now the last piece has fallen into place: the child has been named John. In an instant God restores his speech. And the first words from Zechariah's mouth are words of blessing for the great things God has done.

Each of us carries regret over hasty words we have said. Perhaps you regret something you said to a loved one now gone. Just remember Jesus Christ came in the manger to win forgiveness for that sin. Because He died and rose again, we have new hope and new life. It's a hope that through Christ Jesus our fractured relationships will be repaired. We hope for this to take place in this life but even if it doesn't, for all who believe, it will in the never-ending life we will enjoy together when Jesus Christ returns.

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, heal the wounds I caused by my hasty, hurting words; restore the relationships I have damaged, and fill me with peace and joy for Jesus' sake. I pray in His Name. Amen.

Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).

Morning Devotions with Cap'n Kenny - Why We Celebrate Christmas

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:23, NIV)

It really is an amazing thing, to think about the mystery of the Incarnation—that mysterious moment when God became a man.

Jesus Christ—God the Son—was born in a manger. He went from the throne of heaven to a feeding trough. He went from the presence of angels to a cave filled with animals. He who is larger than the universe became an embryo. He who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young virgin.

Some people have a hard time believing in the Virgin Birth. If you believe the Bible, you need to believe in the Virgin Birth. The Bible teaches that God Almighty was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a virgin (see Matthew 1:23).

This makes sense if you think about it. If God had chosen to, He could have sent Jesus to this earth as a fully grown yet sinless human being. A shaft of light could have come out from heaven with Jesus descending to the ground as an adult man.

But if Jesus came to us in that way, who could have related to Him as a person, as a part of the human race? God also could have had Jesus come into the world through two ordinary human beings—but still with a divine nature. But then most of us would have doubted His divinity. That's why the Incarnation makes sense.

Christmas is the opportunity to worship God, to bow down and pay homage to Him for humbling Himself and appearing in human form (see Philippians 2:6–9). Why He would choose to love us so much to become one of us is the true mystery of the Incarnation—and the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Let's be sure to worship Him this week and to proclaim "good tidings of great joy" to a world that needs to hear good news.

In Jesus,
Cap'n Kenny

Devociones de Adviento - Divino heredero de David

Romanos 1:1-7

Les escribo acerca de su Hijo, nuestro Señor Jesucristo, que conforme a los hombres descendía de David. (Ro 1:3, RVC)

Si vamos al cine y nos preguntan acerca de la película que vimos, se espera que en pocas palabras podamos resumir la trama y narrar lo más saliente de su protagonista. Cuando se le pregunta a un cristiano acerca de su fe, se espera que pueda contar en pocas palabras quién es Jesucristo y qué hizo por cada ser humano.

El tema central de la Biblia es Jesucristo. Todo apunta a él y se resume en su persona y su obra. Cuando san Pablo introduce su carta a los Romanos, dice que escribe acerca de Jesucristo, que conforme a los hombres--según su naturaleza humana- descendía de David. Por otra parte, ese Jesucristo era de naturaleza divina. Ambas naturalezas se unieron en una sola persona, de manera indivisible, a partir de su concepción y continuarán unidas para siempre.

La persona de Jesús sigue siendo un misterio. A lo largo de los años, muchas sectas torcieron las enseñanzas de las Escrituras y "crearon" un Jesús distinto del que nos muestran los evangelistas y apóstoles. Una secta, el docetismo, enseñaba por ejemplo que Jesús era humano sólo en apariencia, por lo cual su muerte también fue pura apariencia. Sin embargo, Jesús, descendiente del rey David, fue capaz de sufrir, morir y resucitar. Él es el rey de Israel y vino para ser el rey de todo corazón arrepentido que busca a Dios sinceramente.

Aunque su historia arranque en un humilde pesebre y su trono sea la cruz, su reinado en nuestra vida implica el acceso a un reino lleno de promesas y esperanzas. Busquémoslo. Conozcámosle. Creamos en Él.

Oh Dios, gracias por darme un salvador cercano y poderoso que puede ocupar mi lugar, morir por mí y elevarme a tu gloria en la eternidad. Amén.

© Copyright 2016 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones

Standing Strong Through the Storm - FROM OBSTACLE TO INSTRUMENT


What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Our Open Doors colleague, Ron Boyd-MacMillan, shares the following insight from his teaching, “Why I Need to Encounter the Persecuted Church.”

The persecuted church teaches us that everyone is either an agent of God’s will, or an instrument of God’s will. Everyone in this world has only two choices: they can choose to do God’s will by co-operating with God, or they can choose to defy God and do his will unknowingly.

“Remember, our God is so great even the persecutors serve him,” said a Chinese pastor wryly. He was referring to arch-persecutor of the Chinese church, Mao Tse Tung, who launched the fiercest anti-Christian campaign of the 20th century in the 1960’s. Called the “Cultural Revolution,” he swept away all churches, burned all Bibles, and imprisoned all the pastors.

Yet all he succeeded in doing was pushing the church deep underground, where it became embedded in the family structure and Chinese culture in a way 300 years of evangelism had failed to accomplish. From this fire emerged the world’s largest revival – where the church grew from 1 million in 1950 to over 80 million today.

“We say,” smiled the pastor, “that thanks to Mao – who thought he was annihilating the church – we have the greatest revival. He thought he was killing the church, but all the while he was doing pre-evangelism. God had the last laugh. Glory be to God – He always gets his will done.”

This truth is also showing up in India. Since 1997 violence against Christians has increased greatly as a result of the election of Hindu extremists. Yet the effect of the extremism has been to drive thousands of low caste Hindus into the church. The more Hindu extremists persecute Christians, the more moderate Hindus are drawn into the church.

It is a glorious truth the persecuted awaken us to. Everyone ends up furthering the will of God! Even those who put obstacles in the way of the church serve God, because God just turns the obstacle into an instrument. This means that we must not despair when we think conditions for the flourishing of our Christian lives or our churches are less than perfect. Take your worst enemy or the one feature of your life, society or church that causes you most despair, then put your mind into gear and think – how would God work his will through this obstacle?

Are you childless? Maybe God is using that to give you a greater ministry, impossible with the responsibility of family? Are you powerless? Maybe God wants to show his glory and make you marvel? We may not get an answer, but it is a thrill to try, because we know everyone is either a willing agent or an unwitting instrument of the will of God.

He’s too great, and he loves the world too much, for it to be any other way! God takes the obstacle, and makes it the instrument!

RESPONSE: Today I will be an agent to accomplish God’s will realizing He can make me an instrument.

PRAYER: Lord, make me an instrument of Your will and work as I choose to cooperate with You.

Un Dia a la Vez - Respuestas tardías


El Señor tu Dios es el Dios verdadero, el Dios fiel, que cumple su pacto [...] y muestra su fiel amor a quienes lo aman y obedecen sus mandamientos. Deuteronomio 7:9

Ya hemos hablado en este libro devocional que los tiempos de Dios no son nuestros tiempos y esto afecta en gran medida a ciertas personas.

Hay muchos de ustedes que no tienen mayor problema con sentarse a esperar que Papá Dios conteste a una pregunta u oración. Otros, por el contrario, son tan desesperados que necesitan las respuestas de inmediato y en cuanto las solicitan.

Cuando vamos a la Biblia, encontramos ejemplos que nos muestran que en algunos casos Dios tardaba mucho tiempo en contestar. Uno de estos lo tenemos en Job. Su tiempo de prueba fue tan difícil que se le murieron todos sus hijos, perdió todos sus bienes y terminó con sarna y rascándose con una teja. A pesar de eso, y en medio de su frustración, confiaba en que Dios no lo abandonaría. Aunque, claro, hubo ocasiones en que se quejó por la indeferencia ante la maldad y hasta le reprochó al Señor lo que consideraba su descuido cuando le dijo: «Recuerda, oh Dios, que mi vida es un suspiro; que ya no verán mis ojos la felicidad» (Job 7:7).

Luego, Dios cambió las cosas a su tiempo y le aumentó al doble la prosperidad anterior a Job.

Le extendió la vida a ciento cuarenta años y pudo ver a sus hijos, y a los hijos de sus hijos, hasta la cuarta generación.

El Señor no permite que suframos sin motivo, y aunque ese motivo esté oculto en los propósitos divinos y nunca sepamos el porqué, debemos confiar que Él siempre hace lo bueno.

Verse of the Day - December 18, 2016


Luke 1:68-70 (NIV) “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

Read all of Luke 1

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

The Mind Reader

by David Feddes

Do you ever wish you could read minds?

If you’re single and you’re attracted to somebody, you might not be sure if that person is interested in you. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a mind reader? That way, if the person were interested in you, you’d know, and you’d feel free to say how you felt. And if they weren’t interested, you’d know that, and you could keep your feelings to yourself and save yourself some embarrassment.

If you have children, don’t you wish you could read their minds sometimes? If your kids have a hard time saying what’s on their heart, you’d still know what they’re thinking, and you could relate to them better. Reading minds would also help you decide whether to give your teenagers permission to go out at night. If they talked about going to study with friends, but they really planned on going to a wild party, you could read their mind and know they were lying and refuse them permission. If they were telling the truth, your mind-reading ability would show you that, and you could send them out gladly and confidently.

A lot of us can think of times when we’d like to read minds. Family members wish they could read each other’s minds. Workers wish they could read their boss’s mind, and employers wish they could read their workers’ minds. Dealmakers in business and government would love to be able to read the minds of people they’re negotiating with. There are all sorts of times when we’d like to read someone else’s mind.

But we can’t do it. You’re not a mind reader, and neither am I. That can be frustrating at times, but, on the other hand, how would you like it if other people could read your mind? I wouldn’t like it very much. There are plenty of things I’d rather keep to myself, plenty of thoughts I’d rather not have anybody else know about. Anyhow, the fact remains that we’re not mind readers. The only mind I can read is my own, and the only mind you can read is your own.

Now let’s take this to a higher level. If you can’t read my mind and I can’t read yours, could we possibly expect to read God’s mind? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” God can read our minds, but we can’t read God’s mind. Of ourselves, we have no way of knowing God’s thoughts. Only the Spirit of God knows what God is thinking.

Isn’t that a problem? Not knowing what’s on someone else’s mind can mean problems for human relationships, and it can mean even bigger problems in relation to God. If we can’t read God’s mind, how can we know what God is thinking? How can we know what he’s like? How can we know what he wants, what he cares about, what his plans are, what he thinks of us. How does God relate to us, and how can we relate to him? If you’d like to be in tune with God, it can be discouraging to hear that the only one who knows the mind of God is the Spirit of God.

But here’s the good news: God doesn’t keep his Spirit to himself. The Spirit of God also lives in every person who belongs to Jesus. The Spirit who reads God’s mind lives in God’s people and enables them to read God’s mind. The Holy Spirit knows God’s thoughts and plans, and the Spirit communicates God’s mind. If you don’t have God’s Holy Spirit in you, you can’t understand or accept God’s way of thinking, because “no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” But if the Holy Spirit does live in you, the Bible says that you “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). You can read God’s mind and think the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can’t read God’s mind on your own, because nobody knows God’s mind except the Spirit of God. But if you have God’s Holy Spirit living in you, you can read God’s mind and know his thoughts. You can’t know all his thoughts, of course. No human mind can grasp all that is in the infinite mind of God. But you can know God’s main thoughts in relation to you.



How People Communicate

As we focus on reading God’s mind, it’s helpful to reflect on what it takes to know the minds of other people. You and I can’t read each other’s minds, but there’s a way to know at least something of another person’s thoughts and feelings, and that is through the process of communication. Communication requires at least three things.

The first is this: To know someone else’s inner thoughts, we need them to express themselves. If they never say a word, if the look on their face never changes, if they never do anything at all, then we have no way of knowing what they’re thinking. To know the thoughts of others, the first thing we need is for them to express themselves.

But we need more than that. The second thing we need is for them to express themselves truthfully. People can say and do all sorts of things that don’t express what they are really thinking. A politician can promise something, but in his mind he may have no intent of doing what he says. A friend can say, “I really like your hair” and secretly be thinking that it looks like a haystack in a hurricane. A spouse can say, “Sure, honey, I’ll go out and run those errands” and secretly be thinking, “Why do I always have to do everything around here?” A worker can smile and say, “Sure, boss, no problem. I don’t mind working weekends,” and secretly be thinking, “I hate this job. But until I can find a better one, I’d better act nice and keep my lousy boss happy so he won’t fire me.” For us to know what is in a person’s mind, we need his words and actions to be honest expressions of what he’s really thinking.

If people express themselves and if they do it truthfully, we still need at least one more thing in order to know their thoughts. We need to be in tune with the other person’s way of communicating. A person may talk to me about herself for an hour straight, and every word she says may be truthful, but if she is speaking Russian or Swahili, I won’t know what’s on her mind. A brilliant scholar may tell me his deepest thoughts on a profound subject, but if I don’t understand his big words and his high-level reasoning, I can’t grasp what’s going through his mind. I have to be able to think the way that person thinks. If I can’t, the person will either have to help me expand my vocabulary or else put things in a simpler way that I can grasp.

Communication is so important. Too many of us expect others to read our minds, but that’s not going to happen. If we want to understand each other, we’ve got to express ourselves more openly, tell the truth more honestly, and find ways to talk each other’s language.



How God Communicates

These three parts of communication are basic not only in person-to-person communication among humans but also in God’s communication with us. We need God to express himself, we need him to do it truthfully, and we need it in our language.

We need God to express himself before we can know him, just as we need other people to express themselves before we can know them. “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” We can’t know a thing about God unless God shows us. We can try to guess what God is like and try to figure out what he might be thinking, but our relationship to God is too important to be based on guesswork and figuring. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and our guesswork might do more harm than good. We can’t get into God’s mind using only our own minds and our own efforts. We need God to reveal himself.

And God has done so. He has revealed himself in actions and in words. God’s action in creation gives us some indication of who God is, but the actions which reveal him even more clearly occur in the history of his chosen people, the Israelites, and in the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s supreme action, his highest self-revelation, is Jesus Christ and him crucified. These actions show us a great deal about God, and along with God’s actions, he gives us words to tell us about those actions and to explain them to us, and he gives us words to tell us who he is and what his thoughts are in relation to us. Those words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, are written in the Bible, and proclaimed in the Christian church.

So God has indeed expressed himself, and that brings us to the second part of communication: truthfulness. Here, again, God is the perfect communicator. God always speaks the truth; God always declares what is right (Isaiah 45:19). “It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). When God expresses himself, he does not deceive or mislead. God in the flesh—that is, Jesus--and God’s Word written in the Bible are totally truthful expressions of God. Jesus is “the exact representation of God’s being” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is a perfect picture of who God is and what he is like (John 14:9). Likewise, the Bible is a perfect written record of God’s thoughts toward us. “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16)—or to put it even more literally, “God-Spirited.” The Bible is a completely accurate message from the Spirit of God, the divine Mind Reader.

Clearly, God has fulfilled the first two parts of communication. He has expressed himself, and he has done so with perfect truthfulness. But what about the third aspect of communication? Does God talk our language and come to us at our level? Or does God express himself only in ways that are beyond us humans? Well, just look at God’s actions in Jesus and his words in Scripture. The Lord has come down to our level. In Christ he became human, and in the Bible he uses human words to teach divine thoughts. God has come to us in human form and has recorded his message in human words, so we can’t complain that God doesn’t communicate on our level.

God has done all the things that would ordinarily be needed for person-to-person communication, but all of that is still not enough. We need God to do still more. We need his Spirit to move inside us and shape our thinking. We need the Spirit to help us read God’s mind, so that we think as he thinks, care about what he cares about, love what he loves, hate what he hates, and choose what he chooses. Unless the Spirit takes over, unless the great Mind Reader actually gives us a piece of God’s mind (so to speak) we can’t accept the things of God.

There is something about God’s wisdom that repels people who don’t know God. In a sense, the closer God comes to us, the more we resist him. The Bible says, “The sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7). Some of us say we’d like to know God better, but what happens when God comes to us in human flesh and we see what he’s really like? We crucify him. Some of us say we’d like to be spiritual people, but the moment we read the spiritual truths of the Bible and run into something that doesn’t fit our ideas, what do we do? We decide the Bible must be wrong, and we come up with our own idea of what “spirituality” is all about.

Jesus is God’s supreme revelation. In Christ God unveiled thoughts and carried out plans that he had kept secret up to that point. In 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, the apostle Paul writes, “We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The crucifixion of Jesus shows how the mindset of this age is opposed to God’s mind, but the Lord uses that very event to show his love and mercy. In his secret wisdom, God provides forgiveness through the death of Jesus, and he brings new life and eternal glory through Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of his Spirit.

God comes to us in human form, communicating through human words, but his holiness is such a contrast to our sinfulness, and his wisdom is such a contrast to our ideas, that if all we had to go on were our own senses and our own brains, we would never be able to figure what God is up to. Who would ever dream that only way for anyone to be saved would be for a humble teacher to get nailed to a cross? As 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Who would ever think of God giving his love and all his vast wealth to those who love Jesus? As 1 Corinthians 29-10 puts it, “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’--but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” The rest of 1 Corinthians 2 then speaks in a striking way of how the Holy Spirit reads God’s mind and helps people to read God’s mind.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We [who trust in Christ crucified] have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit of God cannot accept the things that come from God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
There you have it. Only if you have the mind of Christ can you understand and accept what God has freely given in Christ. Only if you have the divine Mind Reader, the Holy Spirit of God, living in you and helping you get inside God’s mind, can you grasp spiritual truths and spiritual words from God.



On God’s Wavelength

I spent sixteen years as a radio broadcaster, speaking into a microphone. Somehow the studio equipment transformed my voice into radio waves that were beamed out from transmitters around the world. Those radio waves were present in many places, but not everybody in those places heard me. To hear what I was saying, it was not enough for the radio waves to be present. People needed something to receive those waves and turn them back into a voice. They needed a radio, and they needed it tuned to the right frequency. Otherwise, they could have radio signals from my broadcast all around them and not be able to hear a word I said.

Likewise, in order to understand God, you must be on his wavelength. The Lord sends out signals that are all around us, but we need the means to pick up those signals. Unless we have a radio set inside us and have it tuned to God’s frequency, we won’t receive the signals that God has communicated. God transmits spiritual truths in spiritual words, but you won’t hear what he is saying unless you have a spiritual mind—the mind of Christ—as the Holy Spirit reads God’s mind and helps you to read God’s mind with him. Now, there are limits in every comparison, and there are drawbacks in comparing someone spiritual to something mechanical. The Holy Spirit is not a power or a radio frequency; he’s a Person, the third Person of Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the point is that we need to be in tune with God, and that can only happen if God the Holy Spirit is inside us, reading God’s mind and giving us the mind of Christ.

When you hear that you’re a sinner whose only hope is to trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection and to be united to him through the Holy Spirit, you might think, “That sounds silly.” But don’t be too quick to say something is silly just because it sounds that way to you. When a student is studying a hard subject, he may get frustrated and say, “This is stupid.” But is that the problem? Is the material too stupid for him? No, it’s too smart for him. It’s not beneath his intelligence; it’s beyond his intelligence. Likewise, if salvation and eternal life in Christ sound foolish, it’s not because the gospel is too silly for you. It’s too wise for you. As the Bible says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” If you say God’s wisdom is foolish, it says more about you than it says about God.

But, thank God, there’s another possibility. The wonders of God and salvation through Christ crucified don’t make sense to an unspiritual person, but the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit can literally change your mind.

A friend told me that for years, he thought Christianity was foolish. In his opinion, the Bible made no sense and had no practical value. He had no interest in Jesus. But then something clicked inside. For some reason that he couldn’t understand at the time, he got interested in Jesus. The Bible gripped his attention, stirred his feelings, made him think hard, and had a practical impact on his life. Christian teaching began to make sense. What had once seemed foolish and useless became the center of his life. At first my friend didn’t understand all that was happening, but after he put his faith in Jesus and learned more about how the Holy Spirit works, he came to understand that God’s Holy Spirit had moved in, had put him on God’s wavelength, and had given him the mind of Christ.

What about you? Can you read God’s mind? Is the Holy Spirit living in you and linking you to Jesus Christ and to God the Father? The Bible says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Romans 8:5). What is it that the Spirit desires? To honor Jesus Christ, to make him known to us, and to shape us to be like him, and to pour God’s love into our hearts.

Jesus is the focus whenever the Spirit is at work. The Holy Spirit constantly reminds people of who Jesus is, of what Jesus did and continues to do, of what Jesus teaches, and of God’s amazing love in Jesus. The Spirit creates faith in Jesus; he moves people to adore Jesus; he transforms people to live like Jesus; he guides us with a sense of what Jesus wants us to do in a particular situation. The Spirit’s entire work is to connect us with Jesus. As Jesus put it, “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” The Holy Spirit gives us Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus.

The more we know Jesus and have the mind of Christ, the more we love the Father of Jesus Christ as our own Father. Jesus’ main goal is to honor God the Father, so any time we’re in tune with Jesus, the Spirit is moving us to call God our Father and to rejoice that we are God’s children (Romans 8:15-16). God is love, so if you can read God’s mind, you know God loves you. God is light, so if you can read God’s mind, you have the light of his truth to guide you. God is holy, so if you can read God’s mind, you desire holiness. God rules the universe, so if you can read God’s mind, you sense his hand in the forces of nature and the great events of history. God knows every bird and flower and every hair on your head, so if you can read God’s mind, you sense him guiding you in every part of your life, no matter how small, and directing your day-to-day decisions.

“No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God”—and those whom the Spirit connects with Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit enable you to read God’s mind.



PRAYER

Father in heaven, you promise to give your Holy Spirit to those who ask you. We claim that promise, Father. Fill us with your Spirit. Give us the mind of Christ. Wash away our sins by his blood. Give us life through his resurrection. Guide our steps by your Word, the Bible, and by your inner promptings. Remove anything that harms our relationship to you. By your Spirit help us to read your beautiful mind, to know your wisdom, your goodness, and your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

NIV Devotions for Couples - Building Our Relationship

by Marian V. Liautaud

Read 1 Chronicles 22:2–19

Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. 1 Chronicles 22:13

“Marriage is a most remarkable and courageous human act,” says Ernest Boyer in A Way in the World (HarperSanFrancisco, 1984). “It’s the promise of two human beings to share life together on all levels, physical, economic, and spiritual. It’s a promise made despite the certainty of death, the certainty of change, and the uncertainty of everything else. There is nothing else we might choose to do that is quite like this act, nothing so foolish or so profound.”

Why do so many of us enter into this “foolish and profound” commitment when we realize that it is such a difficult thing to unify two separate individuals? Why do we assume we will have success when we know that others fail?

Before his death, David shared his vision for building a temple for the Lord with his son Solomon, to whom God had entrusted this sacred task. David had spent countless hours collecting and preparing all of the materials his son would need to build a house worthy of the Lord. Then David told Solomon that if he was careful to observe the laws of the Lord, he would have success.

Likewise we, too, need to take great care in preparing for the construction of a marriage. Marriage is like a temple—a magnificent living, breathing house for the Lord. When we stand at the altar exchanging wedding vows, we’re essentially agreeing to erect a temple in which to honor God. By following God’s plan for marriage—loving, honoring, and remaining faithful to each other—we will have success in honoring him. When we’re strong and courageous, we’ll be able to overcome obstacles and persevere.

Sounds easy. But it’s not.

When Dan and I were preparing to get married, we spent an entire year budgeting, envisioning, and getting quotes on bands, caterers, cakes and invitations—planning all of the elements that go into making a wedding day a success. Soon after we walked down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs., we realized we would need to apply that same kind of care to building our relationship for a lifetime, not just planning for a day.

Marriages often include struggles. Changes in career aspirations, guilty feelings over past mistakes, conflicts in other relationships—these and a myriad of other situations present many opportunities to be either the afflicted or the comforter within marriage. In these periods the one doing the supporting may begin to think, “I am not being helped by this person, only held back.” But because of that foolish, extraordinary vow of marriage, he or she keeps going.

Through the ordinary pains and sharing of day-to-day life, marital love matures into a love that models God’s own love for us. It is in this temple we call marriage that God profoundly manifests himself, giving us the tools we need to be successful as husband and wife.

Let’s Talk
  • How has our love for each other and for God deepened as a result of persevering through struggles in our marriage?
  • Which one of us needs the most help now, and how can the other provide that help?
  • What can we do today to build a strong marriage relationship?

An Encouraging Word - Facing Your Giants

from Max Lucado

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. (1 Sam 17:45-46 NIV)

David sees what others don't and refuses to see what others do. All eyes, except David's, fall on the brutal, hate-breathing hulk. All compasses, sans David's, are set on the polestar of the Philistine. All journals, but David's, describe day after day in the land of the Neanderthal. The people know his taunts, demands, size, and strut. They have majored in Goliath.

David sees the armies of God. And because he does, David hurries and runs toward the army to meet the Philistine (17:48).

You might say that David knew how to get a head of his giant.

When was the last time you did the same? How long since you ran toward your challenge? We tend to retreat, duck behind a desk of work or crawl into a nightclub of distraction or a bed of forbidden love. For a moment, a day, or a year, we feel safe, insulated, anesthetized, but then the work runs out, the liquor wears off, or the lover leaves, and we hear Goliath again. Booming. Bombastic.

Try a different tack. Rush your giant with a God-saturated soul. Giant of divorce, you aren't entering my home! Giant of depression? It may take a lifetime, but you won't conquer me. Giant of alcohol, bigotry, child abuse, insecurity ... you're going down. How long since you loaded your sling and took a swing at your giant?

Too long, you say? Then David is your model. God called him "a man after my own heart" (Acts 13:22 NIV). He gave the appellation to no one else. Not Abraham or Moses or Joseph. He called Paul an apostle, John his beloved, but neither was tagged a man after God's own heart.

One might read David's story and wonder what God saw in him. The fellow fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba; defied God-mockers in the valley, yet joined them in the wilderness. An Eagle Scout one day. Chumming with the Mafia the next. He could lead armies but couldn't manage a family. Raging David. Weeping David. Bloodthirsty. God-hungry. Eight wives. One God.

A man after God's own heart? That God saw him as such gives hope to us all. David's life has little to offer the unstained saint. Straight-A souls find David's story disappointing. The rest of us find it reassuring. We ride the same roller coaster. We alternate between swan dives and belly flops, souffles and burnt toast.

Giants. We must face them. Yet we need not face them alone. Focus first, and most, on God. The times David did, giants fell. The days he didn't, David did.

Standing Strong Through the Storm - GOD IS AT WORK IN HIS CHURCH


And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22

Daniel, a young “underground” house church believer from Muslim background (MBB) would not attend the open church in his Middle Eastern city because he felt its leaders were cooperating with the government. Everything had to be secretive in the house church meetings with no loud singing. It was risky meeting like this. Daniel shares his story of discovery and what he learned from the experience:

“A few months ago, I was at the church leader’s house. They were old family friends and I was helping their kids to repair their computer. The mother answered the door and men came into the house. They were plainclothes police with papers that showed they were from security and had authority to arrest. They took everyone’s phones, disconnected the internet, and gathered all of the computers while they searched the house for Bibles. They found 300. They didn’t want to touch the Bibles, like they were dirty. They took the husband and wife away in handcuffs.

“The leaders were still imprisoned when the police came to my house about a month and a half later pretending to be postmen. In my whole life, that was the first time I saw my father cry. They searched through my room and took my computer, my books, my prayer notebook, my written plans for our youth group, and my personal Bible. They also took my sister’s laptop and all of our cell phones. At the end of their search, they told my parents that they were going to take me with them. My mother was distressed, but I hugged her and told her I would be back.

“They took me to the central prison. I was there for two weeks. They only beat me the first day, but they still threatened me. For the first week I didn’t answer their questions, but the second week was difficult. I was imagining my mom and dad—I had talked to my dad and knew it was a more difficult time for them than for me. I still wondered what I had done wrong and why I didn’t have the right to praise my Lord.

“After two weeks they let me go after guaranteeing I wouldn’t flee. About a month later they also released our leaders on bail. After that, they told me my case was still open and they could call me in at any time. We were uncertain of our sentence because they wouldn’t hold a trial for around six months. Constant pressure. It was a pleasure to be persecuted for my Lord.”

Asked what he learned from the experience, Daniel replied, “First, God taught me patience. Eventually, even though I was worried about my family, God gave me a chance to witness to my persecutors. I really don’t hate them. I love them because they don’t know what they’re doing. They’ve been taught bad things, they’re not bad themselves. I felt a responsibility to tell them about the light of Jesus that can break through their spiritual darkness…I want western people to know that God is working in the Middle East, through persecution, deception, and difficulties.”

RESPONSE: Today I will be thankful that God can work through my fellowship of believers regardless of the level of freedom we enjoy.

PRAYER: Pray for those in underground house churches who risk everything to meet and fulfill the five functions of the church.

Un Dia a la Vez - Cuando me siento caer al abismo


Todos los días del afligido son difíciles; mas el de corazón contento tiene un banquete continuo. Proverbios 15:15, RV-60

En cada uno de nosotros hay diversos estados de ánimo, así que en momentos críticos de nuestra vida se van a manifestar de manera diferente. No todos somos propensos a tener las mismas actitudes ante las experiencias que nos toca vivir.

He escuchado que la depresión es muy dura de soportar y, aunque es un mal tan común hoy en día, lo ideal es aprender a combatirla. A pesar de eso, he comprobado que todo, absolutamente todo, en la vida es pasajero. No hay nada que dure para siempre.

Cuando sabemos y creemos que tenemos un Dios, no podemos pensar que las pruebas no tienen solución. Sería como limitarlo para cambiar las circunstancias. Sería como decirle: «Mi problema es mayor que tu poder y definitivamente me quedo así. No puedo hacer otra cosa».

¿Te imaginas como se sentirá Él?

Mi invitación para ti este día es para que salgas de ese estado con la ayuda de Dios. Si crees y confías en Él, debes dar ese paso de fe. ¡Créele a Dios!

Verse of the Day - December 17, 2016


Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV) But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Read all of Matthew 1

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