Advent Season
Week 50 Day 3
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read: Luke 2:1-16 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Reflect:The answers to our most important questions cannot be discovered by human exploration or reasoned out by the human mind. We can ponder with our minds the great questions regarding our origins, our purpose, and our destiny but we cannot know the answers unless there is someone who stands outside of space and time who can and will give them to us. These questions and their answers transcend space and time but we cannot. Unless there is a God and unless he speaks to us we cannot know the most important things that can be known. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. God has come to us so that we can know God. We do not have to guess regarding our purpose, we can know these things. We do not have to live in fear and uncertainty regarding our future destiny we can know. There are many important things that humans have discovered using their God-given reason but why we are here and what is to come are not among those things. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) This verse demonstrates the hopelessness of unaided human reason in discovering purpose and destiny. We cannot with our senses or our minds discover what God has planned, yet we can know these things. The next verse shows us how, “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:10.) We cannot discover or reason out our destiny but we can know them because God has made it known to us. There are some things we can know via our senses and minds. We can know of God’s existence and some things regarding his creative power. Paul wrote that, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”(Romans 1:18-20) Knowing “about” God is a long way from knowing God in a personal way. To know God “relationally” requires more than the testimony of the physical universe he has created. It requires the incarnation of his uncreated Son, Jesus. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (John 1:18) Do you have questions that remain unanswered? Perhaps some of these questions are important and life affecting. Perhaps you are anxious, or sad, or angry that you do not have all the answers you want. Take time today to give thanks to Jesus because has answered the most important question that can be asked in time or in eternity. Will you trust him with the mystery and praise him for what he has revealed?
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.