ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS OMNISCIENT Elihu says that God is the one “who is perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16), and John says that God “knows everything” (1 John 3:20). The quality of knowing everything is called omniscience, and because God knows everything, he is said to be omniscient (that is, “all-knowing”).
Here are a few examples of God’s limitless knowledge as portrayed in Scripture:
- He knows when we sit, when we rise, and what we think (Psalm 139:1–2)
- He knows words we will say before we speak them (Psalm 139:4)
- He knows the days of our lives before we are born (Psalm 139:16)
- He knows every possible future (1 Samuel 23:11–13)
Praise God Because He is Omniscient
Praise God that He sees everyday and every moment of your life. Praise God that He knows every place you have ever been. Praise God that He knows all without striving to know. He knows because He IS omniscient not because He works to gain knowledge as we do.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Uyghur people living in their homeland are living in desperate circumstances. Many are homeless and hopeless. Pray that they would hear of Living Water and that they would drink and quench their souls’ thirst.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Luke 1:1-4 – The Message
1 1-4 So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.
Luke 2:1-12 – The Message
The Birth of Jesus
2 1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
An Event for Everyone
8-12 There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
Luke 6:47-49 – The Message
46-47 “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.
48-49 “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Go back to Luke chapter 1 and take note of the words he uses that indicate this is not myth or merely a personal story. Where do you see indications of careful research and a commitment to facts? When you read a news story, what do you look for to discern if it is worth believing? What questions do you ask of the author in your mind as you read? There is a huge difference between Luke’s good news story and any other news that has ever been written. Only the gospel, THE Good News, has the power to change your life eternally. It is news that points us not just to history, though it does that. It is news that points us to Jesus. It is an announcement of what has happened and what can happen. Luke traveled the Roman empire with people who had encountered the resurrected Lord. He talked to people who had experienced Christ’s healing and forgiveness in person. The trail the Lord had walked was still “warm” as Luke walked it. I don’t doubt that he sat in a pub and coaxed the shepherds into telling about the first Christmas night. Can you imagine what they would think if they knew we would be singing songs about their experience thousands of years later? They are much more famous now than they ever were when they were alive. Think history. Think real life. Don’t move through this day dividing the world into the real and tangible and the not so real and spiritual. It is all your Father’s world out there, see him in all of it.