“A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”" (Isaiah 40:2-4)

Prepare – that word seems to keep creeping into my day more and more this time of year. Commercials begin to air on radio and TV which tell us how to prepare for the holidays. We are inundated with information on how to prepare a turkey, how to prepare holiday party tables. Budgeters hold seminars on how to prepare for the holiday spending frenzy.

We are always being asked to prepare, aren’t we?  Prepare for retirement, prepare to be amazed at a magical act, prepare for the worse, prepare for a natural disaster, prepare for tests, prepare for surgery, prepare for a visit from someone important. It is almost as if our lives are wrapped up in getting ready for what is to come, isn’t it?

With Advent approaching, the Christian New Year, we hear passages from Isaiah, repeated by John the Baptist, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.” How do you prepare to receive God?  Sounds daunting.

Other religions concentrate on preparing yourself to be good enough to be in God’s presence. But, as Christians, we know the prep work has already been done. That’s the good news. God sent His Son to be our advocate so we can stand blamelessly before Him. He sent the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts. Like a holiday guest who walks in the door, everything has already been prepared for us in anticipation of our coming. All we have to do is receive. What do we receive?

Receive His  gift of forgiveness for our past wrongdoings.

Receive His gift of mercy for our shortcomings.

Receive His gift of grace for our daily living.

Yes, as good stewards we should prepare for what it to come, but not at the neglect of realizing the blessings God has for us today.  If we live in a constant state of preparing, how can we ever stop long enough to be the recipient?  It is a matter of realizing who is really in control. Is it us or our God?

Maybe the best way to prepare the way of the Lord is to realize it is the way of our Lord is the best way which has been prepared for us and fall to our knees, grateful to receive it.

Question: How will you prepare to receive the Lord today and every day?

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” (Jude 1, 2)

Jude begins his brief letter by reminding us of the truth. We are:

• called
• loved by God the Father
• kept by Jesus Christ

Remembering the truth helps us to stand firm against discouragement, doubt and despair. Allow these words of truth to wash over you.

Called:

“God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Loved:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

Kept:

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” (2 Timothy 4:18)

“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24)

After reminding us of the truth, Jude blesses us with an abundance of mercy, peace, and love. An abundance of gracious forgiveness; an abundance of harmony, at rest and reconciled to God; an abundance of kindness and patience, an outpouring of unconditional love – all these blessings flow to us from God our Heavenly Father.

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding me of the truth and abundantly blessing me. Amen

Questions: Why do we need to be reminded of the truth? What specific truths from God’s word encourage you most?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for January 4th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18

“Grow in grace”, not in only one type of grace, but in all forms of gracious response. Grow first in faith, which is the root of all grace. Let your faith increase in fullness, consistency, and simplicity. This will enable you to grasp God’s promises even more firmly than before.

Grow in love. Ask God to extend your love to make it more intense, more practical, and influencing your every thought, word, and deed.

Grow also in humility. Seek lowly places and realize your own smallness so that God will be magnified. As you grow downward in humility, seek to grow upward towards God, approaching Him closer in prayer and seeking ever more intimate fellowship with Jesus.

I pray that God the Holy Spirit enable you to “grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.” Anyone who doesn’t seek to grow in knowledge of Jesus has passed up their blessing, because to know Him deeply is the blessing of eternally fulfilled life. If you know the love of Jesus, you will long for greater outpourings of His love. If you do not desire to know Him better, then you don’t love Him at all, for love always cries, “Nearer, nearer.” Whoever has sipped this wine will thirst for more, for although Christ does satisfy, it is such a wonderful satisfaction, that the a person’s thirst will be whetted.

Absence from Christ is hell, but the presence of Jesus is heaven. Don’t rest merely being content without seeking a closer relationship with Jesus. Seek to know more of Him in His divine nature, in His human relationship, and in His finished work of the cross: His death, resurrection, ascension, and glorious intercession on our behalf.

Grow in grace. Increase in love to Jesus, and you will appreciate even more His love to you. Knowing His love, and His love outworking in every aspect of your daily life, are the best tests of growth in grace.

Question: In this new year, how do you plan and expect to grow in grace?

Develop a heart of worship with today’s life lesson

“How wonderful it is, how pleasant for God’s people to live together in harmony!” (Psalm 133:1, Good News? translation)

Before the orchestra conductor makes an appearance, the violinist stands. She asks the principal oboe player to sound a “tuning A,” a note which the oboist plays the same each time because of the way the instrument is made. Soon the audience hears what seems like a cacophony of sound. Oboes, cellos, trombones all seek to match that perfect note, tuning their own instruments until they hear that their note is the same as the oboe’s.  When they begin their performance, they play in perfect harmony.

In the 18th century, Robert Robinson wrote the words to the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” One phrase lingers: “Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” I wonder how often we attempt to sing—or more commonly, speak—of God’s grace without proper tuning. We have not taken time to look closely into our hearts to see if we are “in tune” with our maestro, our Master.

And what music would the world outside the doors of the church hear if each of us listened to the perfect pitch of the Holy Spirit? A hungry, waiting world is dying to hear the perfect music played on the instruments of God’s grace.

Question: Do you need to “tune” in to God today?

Learn to live generously

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

If God told you to give your last $25, would you give it? I tell you, GIVE IT! Trust me, I know! Years ago, during a very financially challenging time, I was at our bank, taking out about the last $25 we had to buy food. As I walked to my car, I overheard a man talking to another man, “Now what am I going to do? The bank will be closed until Monday. I won’t have any money.” For some reason, he could not get any money from his paycheck.

Wouldn’t that make you just rush right over and give him some? God prompted me to do so, but I never found out what the problem was, because I got in my car and drove away – to my shame and embarrassment. I thought if I gave him the last of my money, how would I feed my family?

That was before I knew better how to obey the Lord, and to this day, I deeply regret it. I didn’t trust God and I never experienced His hand at work in that situation. God was trying to bless someone through me and teach me something, but I didn’t listen. Blessings were lost for both of us. Don’t let that happen to you.

“If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.” (Luke 6:38 Contemporary English Version)

Questions: Have you missed out on God’s blessing due to fear? How can you prepare your heart to be open to God’s call?

“Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, LORD, is in you.” (Psalm 25:20-21)

What are we to think when God withholds His answer to a prayer? Most likely, you’ve wondered this yourself at some point. As creatures bound by time, we can find those ticking seconds very frustrating!

God doesn’t see us simply in the here and now. He perceives the entire big picture at once – where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. And He knows the exact impact on our lives of every little decision, action, or blessing.

Does God want to bring something into your life that would absolutely destroy you? Of course not! He knows what may be a tremendous blessing later could completely wreck your life now. For this reason, He often pauses to give you time to prepare for that blessing.

Learning to patiently wait on God is difficult. Doing so successfully demands at least three things from us. First, we must be sensitive to Him. That is, we must nurture our relationship with the Father so we can hear Him when He tells us to wait. Second, we must trust His judgment. Does God know more than we do? Of course. Then doesn’t it make sense to trust Him? Last, we must be obedient. If we try to accomplish something alone after God tells us to wait, then we’re headed for disaster. God blesses obedience, even obedient waiting.

The Lord doesn’t operate in a vacuum. He works within His relationship with you. Never forget He is actively walking with you, even when He withholds an answer to your prayer. It doesn’t mean He’s not there; it simply means He’s looking out for you even more.

Question: What have you been waiting on God about? Which other historical biblical figures also were required to wait on God?

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:7 (NIV)

God has a plan for eternity and you have a role in it. God wants you to grow to spiritual maturity so that you can bear spiritual “fruit”.

Here is the best way I can describe it: How do you know when a tomato plant is mature? It bears tomatoes. How do you know when an apple tree is mature? It produces apples. How do you know when a human being is physically mature? He or she has the ability to reproduce. How do you know when you are spiritually mature? You spiritually reproduce, or as today’s verse says, you “bear much fruit”.

What is fruit? In the Bible, the word “fruit” is used four different ways. It refers to the fruit of repentance, the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control), the fruit of answered prayer, and the fruit of another Christian – spiritual reproduction.

God wants to you to bear much fruit, to reproduce many Christians. This includes people in your family, in your community, and in the whole world.

Acts 1 teaches, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8 NIV). Jerusalem represents your immediate family and friends, Judea represents your community, Samaria represents your cross-cultural relationships, and the ends of the earth refers to your global calling.

If you want God’s blessing on your life, your family, your finances, your health, and your relationships, then you need to get with God’s agenda! He is building a kingdom, a church, a spiritual family for all of eternity. He wants his lost children found. And that’s where you come in. The more you make God’s agenda your own, the more God is going to bless your life.

Instead of saying, “God bless my plans”, pray, “God, help me to do what you are blessing.” This is the first step in spiritual maturity, and it will lead to fruit in your life.

Questions: How do you define “spiritual fruit”? How can you already see fruit bearing in your life, and how would you like to see God produce more in the future?

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11

As I strolled by a group of shops, a sign caught my attention. It read: “We don’t have it all, but together we have it all.” I thought of how that applies to our church. God has given some the abilities and gifts to do that others cannot do, but to everyone He has given something. None of us have it all, but together ministering and worshiping in concert, together we have it all.

Paul spelled it out in writing to the church at Ephesus. In this passage Paul lists the five kinds of ministries or gifts which have been given by Christ to His Church with first three of these being itinerant ministers – apostles, prophets and evangelists – who were preaching wherever they found an opportunity, while pastors and teachers were attached to some congregation or location. One can only conjecture that perhaps prophets preached to believers and evangelists to unbelievers, while apostles addressed either.

Then Paul explains how Christ sets about to attain the goal of filling all things by giving His body gifted men to foster and further growth. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. These gifted men constitute what we shall call “support gifts.” These four gifts relate to the whole body of Christ, much as the major body systems relate to the physical body.

Just as the physical body needs each organ in order to function, so too does the church need every gift to carry forth its ministry. None of us have all the gifts, but every one of us has at least one gift that God has uniquely given to each of us specifically to carry out that specific task he has for us in His church.

Have you examined yourself and asked what gifts God has given to you? Have you sought to find where your gifts can best be used in your local church and in the church worldwide? What has God equipped you to do? He has created you for a ministry as He has all of us.

Together we are collectively His church. Each of us has a unique role to play just like a symphony and when we are all functioning together there is harmony. Remember, none of us have it all, but together we have it all.

“Thank the Lord for all the glorious things He does; proclaim them to the nations. Sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles” (Psalm 105:1,2)

How long has it been since you have taken time to meditate upon and list all the glorious things the Lord has done for you and how long has it been since you have shared them with your family, your neighbors or even strangers? Of course, your list may differ from that of your neighbors or of fellow believers in your local church or from mine. But among those glorious things that He has done are: He has, by His Holy Spirit, drawn us all to Himself; He has created within our hearts a hunger for His love; and through faith in Christ we have become His children; our sins have been forgiven and we now have the joy of living every moment of every day in vital union and fellowship with Him – all this with the certainty that we shall spend eternity with Him.

Mere human words could never express the gratitude that wells up within one’s heart at the thought of God’s great gifts. The word “alleluia” is universal and is spoken in all languages as an expression of praise to God and no word is more appropriate.

My personal list of blessings also includes a godly, praying mother who lived her Christianity and dedicated me to Christ before I was born, and followed me – as she did all her other children – with her daily prayers; a wonderful father who, I had the privilege of introducing to Christ after I became a Christian and seeing him begin to experience that peace which comes from knowing Christ; a Godly wife who loves the Lord Jesus Christ and shares my commitment to serve Him as our Lord and Master whatever the cost, wherever He leads us.

I thank Him for sons who love Him, and who have committed their lives to serving Him wherever He leads; a daughter-in-law who shares the love and conviction of her husband; a marvelous staff of thousands of Godly men and women who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and hundreds of thousands of co-laborers who undergird me and this ministry.

The glorious things that He has done are without number. Yes, we must sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles. We must proclaim the glorious things he has done to all the nations!

Bible Reading: Psalm 113

Today’s Action Point: Today I will meditate upon the glorious things God has done for me and I will sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles. I will give my prayer and financial support to helping proclaim His greatness to all the nations of the earth.

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for August 1st, PM.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2011.

“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11

All year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us. He blesses us when we sleep, and when we wake His mercy is upon us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God never ceases to shine on His children with beams of love.

Like a river, His loving kindness is always flowing, with a fullness as inexhaustible as His own nature. Like the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth and sustains all life, the compassion of God surrounds all His creatures. In it, we live, and move, and have our being. (Acts 17:27-28)

Yet as the sun on summer days encourages us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen by the rain, so is it with the mercy of God. His mercy has its golden hours, its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifies His grace to His children.

The blessings of the joyous days of harvest are a special season of excessive favor. It is in the glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are abundantly bestowed. It is the mellow season of realization. Before there was nothing but hope and expectation, but great is the joy of harvest. Happy are the harvesters who fill their arms with the yield of heaven!

The Psalmist tells us that the harvest is the “crown of the year.” Surely these crowning mercies call for crowning thanksgiving! Let us give it all to God it by fostering the inward emotion of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed! Let our spirits remember, meditate, and think about the goodness of the Lord! Then let us praise Him with our lips, and magnify His name, from whose abundance all goodness flows. Finally, let us glorify God by yielding our gifts to His cause, giving a practical proof of our gratitude to the Lord of the harvest!

Question: How has God blessed you lately? Can you set aside time today to thank Him?