Posts Tagged ‘ a simple man of God ’
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42:11, ESV
Sometimes this life can get us down or even feel pointless and beyond hope.
But God is God. If we turn to Him and praise Him alone, we will find our joy and peace.
We are continuing the series originally posted five years ago!
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It is now the third week of Advent! (See the last two weeks’ devotional thought here (and here) and here (and here).)
Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.
So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old“. . .
“for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
Luke 1:68-70, 2:30-32, ESV
The first part of the quote is from Zechariah, John the Baptist’s dad, at John’s birth. The second part of the quote was said by Simeon, an old and devout man, when he saw the baby Jesus at the Temple.
These two men knew that the Lord’s salvation was at hand. If you read all of chapters one and two of Luke, you can see that even they did not understand His plan of salvation. They were on the right track, but they were not aware of how things would unfold.
The Lord had come, Emmanuel, God with us, and he brought salvation. It was first brought to Israel, the Jews in Jerusalem in particular, and then it spread to “all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) over the past 2,000 years.
What most everyone then did not know was that first the Lord would bring spiritual salvation, the forgiveness of sins and the repairing of the relationship with God and humanity; the physical redemption from all enemies is still to come.
Let us remember that salvation has come, but we await our salvation from the pain and evil of this world (see Romans 8). We do not understand fully how it will all happen, but we know Jesus will return!
May we not get caught up in the knowledge we have and miss the signs of His coming. May we remember that we are not home yet, and we await our coming Savior. May we bring as many as we can to all of this knowledge of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father!
We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19, ESV
When we think of how the Father sacrificed His Son for our forgiveness out of His loved for us, we should be overcome with love for God and the lost He came to save.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands
Revelation 7:9, ESV
We share the gospel because God loves all people, and we cannot comprehend all the ways the various cultures and personalities will worship Jesus in complete unison.
Oh, what a worship service that will be!
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12, ESV
Only by Jesus can we get eternal life. Believe in Him, and let His light shine through you to reach and save our fallen world.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10, ESV
We take care of our own. Interestingly, if we live or Christ’s love, we will probably pass it on to our lost, hurting world, so that they then will see our good works and praise our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Luke 6:35, ESV
Be like God, who could have simply destroyed all sinners (including you and me), but He showed kindness to us by making a way back to Him.
Love all people.
whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2:6, ESV
How did Jesus walk?
He loved the lost, rebuked the religious haughty, and served all to the point of death.
Go and do likewise.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age
Titus 2:11-12, ESV
In a world that tells us to “just do what feels good,” God simply says to do what is good. And He helps us with the Holy Spirit.
Once again, this series is a re-post from five years earlier, with some additions by me.
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It is now the second week of Advent! (See last week’s devotional thought here and here.)
Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.
So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 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 have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14, ESV
It is important for us to remember that God’s people, the Israelites, those who painstakingly preserved the written Word of God and pursued righteousness, failed to recognize Him when he came to them quite literally in the flesh.
Jesus said just three chapters later, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). Our culture today is largely spiritually dull, even in many churches.
Ask yourself, “Would I recognize God if He approached me today?” Seek His face in prayer, Bible reading, and the fellowship of believers. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Too many missed Him the first time around. Seek the living Lord! Have faith that He is returning soon!
“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 16:7b, ESV
a simple man of God 