“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” ~ Luke 2:10 REFERENCE: Luke 2:6-14 Out in the night, some tired shepherds stayed awake to keep watch over their sheep to protect them from rustlers. While bemoaning their station in life and the current affairs in Bethlehem, they were startled by a sudden burst of light. An emissary of heaven appeared, saying, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Tidings means news or information. This good tiding is about the birth of...
“O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” ~ Psalm 16:5-6 REFERENCE: Psalm 16:1-6 God loves you and has your good at heart. Can you let this picture sink into your spirit? If you do, it will bring you to a place of peace, being able to hand your life and affairs into God’s hands assured that He will seek your good always. The Psalmist had this assurance, which is why he could say, “You maintain...
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” – John 6:7 REFERENCE: John 6:5-13 Jesus found Himself where we often find ourselves, a position where what we have is inadequate to answer what we need. A multitude had gathered to Him and needed food. Jesus and His team were far from town, in a desert place with little money. Does this sound familiar? However, Jesus knew what He would do to find sufficient supply. Jesus knew that God was El-Shaddai, ‘the all-sufficient...
“Lift up your eyes, look around and see; all these gather together and come to you. As I live,” says the Lord, “You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.” ~ Isaiah 49:18 REFERENCE: Isaiah 49:14-21 As we walk with Judah on their journey to recovery, let us consider the beautiful picture of their total restoration. Although they had spent years in captivity, God would bring them back to their land. He would rebuild the burnt houses and repopulate them. The change will be such that God calls them...
“Your sons shall make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go away from you.” ~ Isaiah 49:17 REFERENCE: Isaiah 49:14-21 These verses speak of the restoration of captive Israel. Wasted by the gentiles, God said He was mindful of them and would not forget them, signaling their recovery and return from captivity. To initiate recovery, the destroyers who laid their nation waste shall be made to go away. An undeniable fact is the reality of invisible (sometimes visible) powers and forces that tyrannize and harass man. They stand to oppose progress and subvert every attempt he makes at making...
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.” ~ Isaiah 49:15 REFERENCE: Isaiah 49:14-21 We get to that point sometimes when we look at delayed breakthroughs, unanswered prayers, or harvests of our seeds that are yet to come and ask, like Zion, “Has the Lord forsaken and forgotten me?” You may feel forgotten, but God says today, “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!” After years of captivity and unfulfilled deliverances, Zion felt abandoned! They were going through a cycle of pain and...
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.” ~ Philippians 3:7 REFERENCE: Philippians 3:3-8 From childhood, parents push their children to excel in sports, academics, music, etc. As adults, we pat ourselves on the back when we see a healthy bank balance, academic degrees, family, ancestry, etc. If a man has all these accolades, what will make him consider them a loss? Paul was a man of enviable achievements. He had the advantages of birth, education, and external obedience to the law. He stood out amongst his contemporaries in almost anything that...
“Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” – Genesis 37:20 REFERENCE: Genesis 37:5-20 God gives dreams to give us a glimpse of His plans and what our future holds. If God gives you a dream, He desires that someday, you live and walk in its reality; He never lies or deceives us. Dreams from God are advertisements of great things to come. The future of dreams is their fulfillment, but the devil works hard...
“These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these (carpenters) are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.” ~ Zechariah 1:21 (KJV) REFERENCE: Zechariah 1:18-21 (KJV) Our text tells how four destroying horns ravaged Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The devastation was such that nobody lifted their heads; bowed down by oppression, sorrow, and misery, the people lost their confidence. However, God would send four carpenters to restore their hope and land....
“He canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.” ~ Colossians 2:14 (GNT) REFERENCE: Colossians 2:11-15 (GNT) Oh, the blessing of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! All men born of a woman owe God a debt of sin because of Adam’s sin. The Law of Moses extended to man the hope of forgiveness and access to God. However, unable to keep it, man fell short of its righteous requirements and became indebted to God. A record of his debt was kept. This...