Category: Devotions

Maybe we should just do some more thinking

Luke 2: 50-51 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

There are seasons and times for everything.

Today may not be the day of understanding. Joseph and Mary had not understood why Jesus had said he had to be in his Father’s house when they had been anxiously searching for him.

(It is difficult for us to understand why they didn’t understand!).

Luke tells us that they didn’t argue with Jesus, “What do you mean? What are you saying?”

They didn’t interpret what Jesus had said for themselves, “I think Jesus meant this …”

Neither did they choose to sweep it all under the carpet, “Let’s forget it!”

But at that time, Mary did what was the most important thing, she continually kept on thinking about it and other things that Jesus and others had said.

Perhaps there is a lesson here.

When God speaks to us in whatever way He chooses either as individuals or as a church then maybe we shouldn’t jump in immediately with our understanding, application and interpretation responses. Maybe we should consider a little pondering? Maybe we should treasure them, continually thinking them over, holding them dear, deep in our heart.

The day of the message is not necessarily the day of the revelation.

Perhaps we should get some more mystery back into our lives?

I think the message from God can influence and change our life if we receive it into our hearts for meditation like Mary did.

 

 

 

Revelation of Jesus is the greatest help to our lives on earth.

Luke 2: 48-49

When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’  ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?

 

• They were offended that there was no communication on what his plans were.
• They were embarrassed because it seemed the whole world knew they hadn’t any idea where he was.
• They feared the worst.
• They were distressed and tormented (amplified) which was quite the opposite of the teachers of the law who were impressed by him.
• They wanted to know why.

His response was with the same question. Why?

There seems to be a division on this question.

Jesus wanted to know why they didn’t know where he would be before they had set out for home.

“Why don’t you know?”

All the above points can be said of us today.

Offended, embarrassed, fearful, distressed, tormented, are all feelings we can have towards God over the situation we find ourselves in. Why God?

And the response is something like this:

Why after 12 years (or whatever period of time you have been a Christian) have you so taken me for granted that you still do not know me? Why have you not grown in your learning? All those feelings are a result of not knowing who I am.

Our understanding of the revelation of who He is will impact our lives in the decisions we make.

We may sympathise with Joseph and Mary and yet all those feelings of despair they felt as parents was unnecessary if there had been a growing understanding and desire even to know Jesus more.

 

 

Grow in understanding

Luke 2: 46-47

“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

Everyone loves a child prodigy. They are cute. They are no threat. But when the child prodigy becomes an adult well that can be a whole different story. A child asking a provoking question is different to an adult asking the same.

At 12 years of age Jesus shows us what is of most importance.

He is with the teachers.

He is listening to them.

He is asking questions.

He is answering questions.

Jesus, at 12 years of age loves to learn.

May we never stop developing our understanding.

Today you have an opportunity to learn, to grow with wisdom in words and ability. Embrace your life. Read, listen, discuss, draw from every conversation and learn. Never stop learning.
You will not know what is ahead of you but prepare yourself in mind speech and ability. You will end up drawing on these moments that’s for sure.

The search

Luke 2: 44-45

“Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.”

They assumed everything was the same as it had always been.

They were returning home as a family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus plus their extended family and friends. It was a coach full of people who all knew each other. It was probably a noisy crowd as they chatted along the way of the wonderful Festival of Passover they had just attended. This scenario had repeated itself for many years. This year was no different.

They travelled from Jerusalem back to Nazareth a fifth of the way and then the dawning realisation that this year was very much different because though they had thought Jesus was with them, he actually wasn’t.

I wonder if that was the first marital row! “He was with you”, “No, he was with you!” Perhaps!

So the search began amongst the relatives and then the friends, surely Jesus was there. They could not find him, so they did the smart thing and that was to take some steps back, all the way to Jerusalem, they were determined to find him.

Is it possible that we are in exactly the same position?

Is it possible that we have thought that Jesus was with us after all he had promised never to leave us?

If we have ever thought that a particular church had so lost its way that we described it as ‘dead’ then yes it is possible that even in our liveliness and flamboyancy of church that we too have lost the presence of Jesus.

If we have ever used the words ‘so-called Christian’ in a derogatory way then it is also possible that we as true disciples have lost the presence of Jesus.

If we have ever stood outside a building that used to be a church and is now derelict or apartments and judged it for losing its witness because Jesus said, “I will build my church” then it is also possible worshipping in a church that is in decline is an indicator that we think Jesus is with us but maybe we have lost him.

Is it possible that the problems in church life over division and strife, gossip and slander, jealousies and bitterness is simply due to the fact that we have lost his presence. We think Jesus is with us and even fighting for our opinion, but we have moved from him.

Yes. It is possible and it needs to be said.

The search must begin sooner rather than later.

Admission is so important. We have lost the ‘presence’.

We will try familiar places (the relatives and friends) to try and get the presence back (we will try worship, evangelism and good works). But he is not in those things.

We must retrace our steps. We must go back to where we were when Jesus was definitely with us.

The search must begin there.

 

 

UNAWARE

 

Luke 2: 41-43

 

“Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.”

 

For 12 years the same thing, the journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem took approximately 5 days, but it was worth it for the festival. The Passover, the celebration of the deliverance by God of the Children of Israel from their enemy is the most important Jewish festival.

Can you imagine what must have gone through Mary and Josephs mind each year as they carried and then as Jesus got older walked with him to the Passover. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world with them at the Passover. It must have been so special.

When you do the same thing in the same way for so many years then it is easy to become blinded to any changes that may happen, even major ones!

The attention you give to a child is different to the attention you give to a 12 year old. On a child your eyes are never far from them. With a 12 year old you are content with some distance.

I think the danger for Christians in the UK is that we have become content with distance that has developed between the presence of Christ and the practice of our Christianity. When the practices take our attention more than the presence then we can become blind. The practices will prove we still believe Jesus is who He is, we still love Him, we still go to worship Him, we still speak of Him and we still hold to the fact that He is with us. Yet we can be unaware because practices can blind us to the presence. If someone had asked Mary and Joseph if Jesus was with them their response would have been, “Yes totally.”

We lose the presence of Jesus because of routine, this is how we always do it. The festival is over, people leave Jerusalem and go home. It is what everyone is doing. The moment was amazing again but now we leave the moment and we get on with our lives. We exchange the moment for the mundane. We miss the fact that Jesus wants to stay in that moment longer.

Christians, unaware that there is an incredible and growing distance between ourselves and the presence of Christ.

Perhaps that is why Christians have become mute and Churches are in decline.

We have a vision of the journey but Christ is not with us.

We are unaware.

 

Things are really cool in Nazareth

Luke 2: 39-40

“When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.”

One of the many highlights of having relaxing time at Christmas is to watch the many great films that become personal traditions. For my family it is the film called NATIVITY. Lots of humour and lots of really good songs that remain in your head. Like this one:

Things are really cool in Nazareth,

Our city is full of joy,

‘Cause this is where girl meets boy.

 

The town of Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament neither does it appear in the Talmud (the first written collection of the Oral Jewish Law). In the time of Jesus it is definitely insignificant. Nathanael says in John 1:46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” The name means uncertain and it sits half-way between the Sea of Galilee (and how many miracles and stories of Jesus would come from there?!) and Mount Carmel (often used to describe a fruitful place, Is 35:2; Elijah defeated 450 false prophets there 1 Kings 18).

So today …

You may describe your situation and place of life as the following:

1. Insignificant
2. Uncertain
3. In limbo – believing in miracles but not seeing them, believing in fruitfulness and victory but not experiencing it.

This is Nazareth.

And before you dismiss this place read what Luke writes again:

“And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.”

It is here in this place which Nazareth signifies, that Christ in you will grow, that as you host His presence then His influence through your life will increase and that you will be marked by grace.

When the circumstances are most difficult that is where God seems to enjoy growing.

Nazareth is a good place to be after all. Things are really cool in Nazareth.

 

Jesus our hope

Luke 2:36-38

“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

 

Luke never wastes a character, they are included for a reason. So to add to the wonderful occasion of Jesus being presented in the Temple and Simeon taking him in his arms accompanied with the sacrifice of birds that Mary and Joseph had brought to God, here comes Anna.

Luke tells us that she came from the tribe of Asher.

Asher had been one of the 8 northern tribes of Israel, the other 2 were in the southern kingdom where Jerusalem was, Judah and Benjamin.

In the 8^th century the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and then no one knows for sure what happened next to these tribes. But we do know that some made it back to Israel because Anna has traced her lineage.

Luke has successfully shown us that Simeon was a priest in the temple and therefore from the tribe of Levi who though had no land given to them were associated mainly with Jerusalem in the south.

So can you see this picture as Luke describes it?

Here is baby Jesus in the middle of someone from the southern kingdom and someone from the northern kingdom. United at last because of Jesus.

Anna’s ancestry had stories of division and being overcome by the enemy.

Anna’s personal past also contained regret and sorrow over losing her husband and maybe not having children.

But where do we see Anna? And what is she doing?

She is serving continually in the Temple with worship, fasting and prayer focusing on the hope of a coming Redeemer.

That’s it.

Our past, whatever it is, division, defeat, guilt, sorrow does not have to have the last word. We can move forward with the hope found in Jesus our redeemer!

Let’s talk about Jesus and pay the price

Luke 2: 33-35

“The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Talk about what your Church does for people and it isn’t hard work. There is no threat in the main because your Church is a good community organisation with its projects and helps that it offers.

Talk about God and in the main everyone responds in agreement even though their names for God differ from Higher Power to whoever he or she is, the man upstairs, put a good word in for me!

However, talk about Jesus and it is a whole different story.

Two days ago my friend in Africa sent me this report:

“… however we are really saddened, at the start of this New Year by continued terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso that caused a number of deaths in the military. Yesterday terrorists slaughtered several people in a northern village where a trainee Church planter comes from, again yesterday radio stations reported that terrorists slaughtered several members of a traditional chief’s family members including the chief. The government has now decreed a State of Emergency in seven out of the thirteen regions of Burkina Faso. There is widespread fear and suspicion in people.”

 

We must pray for the Christians in Burkina Faso.

But we need to pray extensively for many more nations where Jesus followers face persecution every day. Last year it was estimated that 215 million Christians faced discrimination and violence simply because they followed Jesus.

 

Pray for Asia Bibi! We have friends in Pakistan who face constant struggles over this issue.

 

It is estimated that on average 250 Christians are killed every month in the world. Simply because people are offended because of Jesus.

 

Simeon was right. Jesus would cause offence. People have from day one spoken against him and his followers. He will cause the falling and rising of many. Whatever that means it is true that every day Christians fall because of Jesus but those that fall will indeed rise and reign with Him forever.

 

So will you continue to talk of Jesus or will you resort to the Church and to ‘God’?

May God grant you courage to boldly proclaim Jesus wherever you are and whoever you are with.

 

 

Praying the song of Simeon 4

Luke 2: 32 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Simeon quotes Isaiah 49. “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (49:6). Jesus is the one who shines God’s light for all nations and brings God’s salvation to all people.

The Christmas lights may be down now and what was glistening has gone. Houses are not beaming their lights down the street. It seems darker now.

I was asking someone yesterday what it was like in their home. Sadly they portrayed a darkness all too familiar in this world.

There are people near you today and the lights have gone down, they have been boxed away and they face darkness.

But you are holding Jesus!! You are hosting His presence. The light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you (Isaiah 60)

And so we declare …

To those who once walked in the promises of their God but now wallow in self-pity, bitterness and hurt – YOU CAN RISE AND SHINE AGAIN.

To those who have long since given up the fight, their armour and weapons of war are stored up with dust, their youthful passion for souls and their energy to give up all for one soul to find Jesus is now a faint dream, hear the wake-up call – YOU CAN RISE AND SHINE AGAIN.

To those who couldn’t hold on any longer, something had to give, you gave away your destiny, you broke up your potential, you ruined your desires and were ruined by new ones. You can regain your footing, it’s time to walk – YOU CAN RISE AND SHINE AGAIN.

To those who came under a stronghold that so gripped their life it paralysed them. An area of your life is now not functioning like it used to, you feel a lesser man, as a woman you feel your beauty has been taken, you are tarnished, you are stained and impure. But listen – get up – YOU CAN RISE AND SHINE AGAIN.

It may be that for the shouting it’s all over, your faith is dead, your anointing is dead, that relationship is dead, you cannot pretend anymore, you have got to be realistic and say ‘It’s over’. It’s never over till the Master has touched you and called you to get up. YOU CAN RISE AND SHINE AGAIN.

Here is my prayer

Light of the world

Let your glory shine through me to those around me today.

Every word that comes from my mouth let it be filled with bright hope.

Let me brighten the darkness.

I arise and choose to shine today.

Amen

Praying the Song of Simeon

Luke 2: 31

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all nations …

No distinction.

That’s what Simeon realised. This unveiling of salvation through Jesus was not only for the Jews. Jesus was certainly for the comfort of Israel but he was far more than this. This salvation was spilling over from Israel to the whole world, to all peoples of all nations.

We need to be reminded of what Simeon saw.

• Last year I subscribed to a conservative Christian newspaper which I now need to unsubscribe to as I became tired of its attacks on other Christians for not holding to its own viewpoint.
• I read a moving book last year by a popular media personality who is a Christian but states her sexual identity is gay. She recently stated online that she had to remove herself from social media because of the endless abuse she was getting from Christians.
• I ended the year being given a letter regarding a complaint of spiritual abuse that someone has suffered.

That was last year. No doubt this year will contain the same.

I am not being negative. The truth is that it is all too easy to believe that what Simeon said was this: For my eyes have seen your judgment which you have prepared in the sight of all nations.

Salvation for all. No distinction. Our message is salvation. It is the only thing that matters.

We all need a Saviour. The sins we see in others are equal or even less than the sins that are in our lives.

Simeon didn’t see salvation for the Jews and judgment for the nations. It was salvation for all. Salvation for people who are different to us. Who look different, have different cultural practices, different languages, behaviours and offences. Salvation.

Today when we meet people who are different don’t think judgment thoughts think salvation thoughts and who knows they may have known the salvation of Jesus long before you!

Here is my prayer

Dear Saviour

Forgive my dismissive and hurtful judgments that I have publicly and privately made about people.

Thank you for my salvation.

Thank you for saving me every day.

I soak myself in your salvation so that when people see me they see a Saviour first.

I live in a world where people are different and for all kinds of reasons.

I live in a world where sin is being expressed within and outside the Church.

Help me find a way to live in that complexity of sinfulness declaring salvation rather than dismissing through my prejudiced judgment.

Amen