Category: Devotions

Praying the Benedictus 1

Luke 1: 67 “His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied

As Mary’s song is called the Magnificat because of the opening word in Latin, ‘Magnifies’, so Zechariah’s song is known as Benedictus for the same reason with the opening word Blessed or Praise.

The Holy Spirit has come upon and powerfully overshadowed Mary (v35); Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (v41) and her baby, John, was also filled with the Holy Spirit (v15) and now his father, Zechariah is again filled with the Holy Spirit!

There is no story without the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t appear in the nativity scenes and yet the powerful presence of God is central to the beginning of the most amazing story.

So let us get into this Benedictus of Zechariah.

How do we see the Holy Spirit in him? It is through the prophetic words that come tumbling out of his heart.

When we are hosting the presence of the Lord in our lives then it is seen in what comes out of our mouths.

• Not pain but praise!

He could have sung about how tough it had been for him, being muted by Gabriel and possibly unable to hear as well for 9 months. He could have sung about how much of a disgrace he and Elizabeth had suffered through her barren years. He could have turned on those who prior to the birth of John had turned away from them. This is our time to get even could have been his mantra. But there is nothing of that, there is just praise. People who carry the Holy Spirit in their lives speak less frequently about themselves and more about someone else.

• Not John but Jesus!

If we don’t talk about ourselves the temptation is to talk about our children or our things that we have earned or bought or celebrated. But it is still me.

We wouldn’t have blamed Zechariah to sing about John, after all it is the greatest miracle that ever happened to him. He may have got a book tour out of it, “Buy my book, buy my book, it is about my John”. Some will get their reward on earth and if they do then they should enjoy it because it ends on earth. Some will get it in heaven for eternity.

But Zechariah doesn’t sing about John, but Jesus! When the Holy Spirit flows from the heart of a person then He speaks of Jesus, He elevates Jesus, He glorifies Jesus (John 16:14).

I have been trying to practice (get better) at hosting the presence of the Lord, trying to make the ‘moment’ of His presence last longer in my life, in my waking hours, in my conversations, decisions and actions. I can only get better! But I am thankful for His grace. The other day I came away disappointed with myself because I had a meeting with someone and we talked at length about leadership, strategy, my denomination but I realised I had an emptiness in my heart after that meeting and it was because I hadn’t talked about Jesus. The Holy Spirit likes to talk about Jesus! I am finding that meetings without Jesus are beginning to bore me. Meetings about how people have offended or how great we have become are meetings I don’t want to be in anymore. Let’s talk about Jesus and what He is doing. For as the Apostle John would say in his Revelation, “For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.” (19:10)

 

Prayer

Dear Lord and God of my life

Fill me again and again with your Holy Spirit.

Grace me with the ability to host your presence in my life.

I praise you for everything you have brought me through. In the presence of my enemies I will praise you. In the presence of the ignorant and misunderstanding I will praise you.

I praise you for everything you have provided and blessed me with. It is pure grace. But if you had given me nothing then I would still have had everything because you have given me a relationship with Jesus.

Thank you Jesus.

Today, I commit to thinking thoughts of you, to speak of you longer than I did yesterday.

Consume my whole life Jesus.

Amen

The power of silence

Luke 1: 62-66 “Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.”

For 9 months Zechariah had not been able to speak, since Gabriel had silenced him and may have even made him deaf because the people had to make signs to communicate to him.

Imagine with me, God placing you into a silent world for 9 months.

It is easy to just see this silence as a punishment from Gabriel to Zechariah for his questioning unbelief. But I think it is so much more than that.

Imagine with me 9 months of no noise, of another world, probably one where he is aware it is just him and God now. A season where there was time to meditate on who God is and what He has done. Realising that God is a covenant keeping God. Imagine God filling the silence with His presence. Imagine God filling his unbelief with faith. Imagine the intimate moments of prayer and worship of his heart towards God. This was a productive silence and I know that because of what would come out of his mouth as soon as his voice came back and his ears were opened. Out of Zechariah came the name of his son, which was given to him by Gabriel and then an amazing song of praise.

The verse in Isaiah 30:15 was certainly true for Zechariah, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”

So many of us are in the last few words of that verse, we ‘have none of it.’

We are approaching now this fun-filled, loud, festive noise of songs, cheers and anything but silence!! Activity has increased, our minds are flooded with ‘to do’ lists, we have been shopping, planning, discussing, creating and at the same time we are getting more and more fraught, anxious and restless.

“We are going to have a quiet Christmas this year” Yes right!

But it doesn’t change. We will then go into a new year and we will be doing the same. Our lives are filled with anything but silence. And for us Pentecostals well, silence can appear a dangerous thing, so we fill the gap with a song, a superlative or a story anything but silence!

Maybe someone needs to hear today that they are facing a huge decision, a game-changer for their life, they don’t know what to do but a decision will have to be made and yet the one decision that is of utmost importance is to be silent. For in the trust of silence there is strength.

Maybe the silence of Zechariah is not a punishment but an invitation. It certainly can be for you and me today. There are things God can only do in the silence. Enter it today.

 

 

Watch out!

Luke 1: 59-61 “On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

 

This was more than a Jewish ritual. This for Zechariah and Elizabeth was them saying we want our son to start right, we want him under the ancient covenant of Abraham. They knew that in time he would have to understand the circumcision of the heart but now this is a symbol of what is to come when their son truly walked with God in full knowledge. The ceremony was also an opportunity to name the child revealing the story of the parents and the faithfulness of God to them.

1. Watch for those who assume control.

Zechariah cannot speak so others assumed they would step up and initiate control. They no doubt did it out of right motives but they were not in line with the will of God. Who is controlling you? Prevent whatever it is taking you away from what God has promised and ordered.

2. Watch for those who presume from what is the norm.

For a son to be named after his father was a proud moment and one that was seen as the culturally normal thing to happen. Not to do so would have caused eyebrows to be raised as to why. When Elizabeth objects she is dismissed because for them her suggestion was not acceptable. They were steeped in beliefs, disciplines and practices going back generations. They were locked in. “Elizabeth you cannot name him John, there is no one in your family with that name.” People can become offended when they presume through cultural eyes. I heard recently of how a group of orthodox Christians left a church because the Pastor was not baptising the ladies in white robes. Yes, here in the UK, 2018!

3. Watch for those who are not in alignment with you or what God has said to you.

John’s name means “Yahweh is gracious” and Zechariah’s name means “Yahweh remembers”. Not a massive difference and does it matter? Yes if God had said to call their son John! Good, praiseworthy and ‘it makes sense’ isn’t necessarily obedience. Elizabeth protected her son’s identity.

 

Be careful of good, well intentioned people, they can be worse than your enemies if you do not stick to what God has said to you. Watch out!

Let others rejoice with you.

Luke 1: 58 “Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy”.

People will get to know. Word will get out. The news will spread like a fire. It will tell of what God has done for you.

People never thought it would happen. Those who saw the breakthrough coming doubted you would survive the pressure and cost of that breakthrough. But you survived and you certainly broke through.

Be ready to permit others to share your joy. Don’t stop them even though they were not originally your supporters. They were not there at the beginning when you were desperately praying for healing and your miracle. But they will be there at the end when there is something to see. Some people only turn up when the miracle has come. They are not there for the work. But permit them to share your joy nonetheless.

Time

Luke 1: 57 “When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.”

It took 9 months for her son to grow within her. God could have done a miracle but He waited. He waited within the restricted time.

Some things take time. It would appear to Google that getting the perfect boiled egg is indeed a science there are so many pages on this but it boils down to time!

On the Gmaps app on my phone it will tell me with a fair degree of accuracy how long the distance of travel will take whether I am driving, on the train, walking or on a bike. How clever that we can plan our lives around time and how time restricts us. How strange that the one thing we have done all our lives is to try and beat time?!!

Miracles are not necessarily instantaneous. Breakthroughs are often accompanied by careful carrying of responsibility for that breakthrough.

Is time your friend or foe?

Submit your prayers to the time restriction that God wants to use. They are never wasted or lost.

 

Get some friends

Luke 1: 56 “Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.”

Gabriel had told Mary that Elizabeth was already in her 6^th month of pregnancy. Therefore Mary stayed with her for the final 3 months and by the time her baby was born Mary was indeed showing herself, her miracle was growing within.

There are friends:

1. Who have been tipped off by God to come to you. Can you imagine the scene? Elizabeth: ‘Mary I’m pregnant’, Mary: ‘I know, an angel told me’. Get some friends who are hearing God and encountering Him.
2. Who will be there for you and will stay with you. Get some friends who will not just pray with you but will see you through into the next breakthrough of your life.
3. Where age is nothing but it is also everything. Get some friends that are younger than you who have the energetic passion with vision for the future (Mary). Get some friends that have the wise experience of having lived longer and have walked with God before you. Get some friends that are younger and older than you.
4. Who know when to leave. Some leave too soon and some stay too long. Mary knew Elizabeth was now fine, the baby was either born or would shortly be (I like to think Mary stayed right through to labour). Mary also knew she was now beginning to show herself and so now was the time to speak to Joseph. Get some friends who understand the times.
5. Who have homes that are needing a miracle. You never know what is happening behind someone’s front door. Not all homes are peaceful and some are in confusion and have complex issues to face. But every home can become a miracle story. Get some friends who need miracles in their homes. Encourage them to believe. Bless them. Commission them.

 

Friends usually evolve. But we can be more pro-active in choosing them.

Get some friends.

Praying the Magnificat 10

Luke 1: 55 “The Lord made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his family forever!”

After 400 years of no prophets bringing any messages from God, all they had were fading promises and many would have forgotten them completely.

But here comes Elizabeth and Mary. An old lady carrying a miracle-child who has encountered the power of the Holy Spirit standing with a greater miracle.

Mary says, “These are the days of the Abrahamic promises coming to fulfilment.”

She will later see and suffer that God who spared Abraham’s Isaac will not spare her own son – His Son.

2018, we are the descendants of that.

But what does it mean if everything is fulfilled, all the Law and the Prophets is found in Christ? If all the Abrahamic promises are now in Jesus do we just study them?

No.

We live like the Mary generation, but even better.

Generally speaking, just like 2,000 years ago, many in the Church struggle to expect that the Messiah/Jesus will return in their own lifetime. Ironically unlike, Mary and the early Church who had just met Him.

In the waiting we too have let the promise of the coming Messiah fade. As a result mission has now become tired and silenced. Maybe God will stir a young generational miracle-carrier to believe the promise-keeper is coming again very soon; that He is in fact already here in presence but will appear physically in what is going to be a blink of the eye.

Will that be you? Can you be an Elizabeth? Can you be a Mary?

Prayer

Promise-keeper, you never fail, you are always on time.

As you fulfilled the many covenants in history like that of Abraham, you will also fulfil your promise to return.

I am ready. I do not have the perfect life. My circumstances are not ready. But I am ready.

I host your presence.

Come Lord Jesus.

Amen

Praying the Magnificat 9

Luke 1:54 “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful …”

Mary had already been told that her son was more than just a child. That it was God coming to the world for a throne, to reign and to build a kingdom. She understands that He is firstly coming to her nation and she chooses descriptive words that are used by the earlier prophets: “But you, Israel, my servant … from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; … I will strengthen you and help you.” (Isaiah 41:8-10)

He is coming to help in remembrance of His mercy.

Mercy is more than sympathy, pity and forgiveness. It is that but it rushes past and out of those expressions. It is possible to sympathise, have pity and even forgive without doing anything. Mercy needs an act for it to be mercy.

Mercy is not self-seeking or trying to win an argument or prove a point. It is not trying to gain but is in fact accompanied by losing.

Those who show mercy look weaker in our aggressive culture. Mary knew this is what was inside her. She was hosting His presence and this was mercy.

This was the help coming to Israel and to the world.

 

Prayer

Merciful God who came and gave everything.

I see that if I truly want your presence in my life then I am welcoming mercy to dwell in me.

Forgive my defensive, over sensitive, prickly responses to people around me. Forgive my desire to be right.

I lay my life down for others. I offer my life as an act of mercy to those who hurt me.

I think of ways to show mercy to those who suffer.

I choose to suffer for the suffering.

In doing so I host your presence.

Amen

Praying the Magnificat 8

Luke 1: 53 “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

Mary lived at a time when because of the Herodians taxing heavily the Jews for the building of their lavish palaces and homes for the gentry, hunger was very familiar to most.

Today there are people who stiff suffer at the hands of their governments and broken infrastructures. Even here in the UK there are families who are trying to survive with little food. Of course that doesn’t compare to the many famines that have happened and are still going on around the world. Fuelled by war, corruption, ideologies and apathy from the rest, many are hungry today.

But Mary also lived during a time when the Jews were hungry for God to once again step in and end the suffering of His people which historically was seen to have been caused by their wandering from Him.

Psalm 107: 4-9 “Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

Was Mary in fact quoting this Psalm? Probably.

Jesus certainly had Scripture in mind when he gave the beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled”

The Church needs to find its hunger point again.

We do not have everything. We cannot by our own efforts see Church growth and effectiveness. We boast and advertise our riches but it all comes to nothing. We need God to enter. We need to be able to say, “He has filled.” So …

Are you hungry?

Do you have an insatiable longing that can only be satisfied by God?

Is there a strong desire for more?

Are you pouring out your soul?

It is better to be hungry than not needing a thing.

So let’s hunger for Him today.

 

Prayer

God of the hungry, filler of good things, here I am.

I have nothing to give to you except my appetite for you.

I need you.

It is your face I seek, not what is in your hand.

Come to me.

I want to host your presence.

Amen

Praying the Magnificat 7

Luke 1: 52 “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”

Today, we are starting 5 days of the Brexit debate in the UK House of Commons! There will be lots of gloating and proud belittling of the opponents opinions.

Also no doubt this week the super powers of the world will once again flex muscle and try to convince the other that they are stronger and richer.

Here is a young teenage girl who may not have been educated but knows her Scripture enough so that when she is pouring out her soul to God she is able to use it to form her own prayers.

Job 5:11 “The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.”

Psalm 40:2 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Mary says: He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

What appears to be ruling your life today? Which Caesar has sent his minions to encamp on your territory? Has a throne been established? Has there been an authoritative positioning through sickness, financial burden, grief and hurt and stress?

No matter how powerful the seat is, God brings down such rulers from their thrones!

God is with the poor and the broken. The Asia Bibi’s of this world waiting, silently, longing for God to rescue them.

30 years later after the Magnificat comes the Beatitudes which Jesus gives to those who were wandering aimlessly in life, the forgotten, the broken:

If you cannot take any more (poor in spirit); if your heart is broken (those who mourn); if you are not pushing yourself forward all the time (the meek); if those who have harmed you have not got justice or if you long to be free yourself (hunger and thirst for righteousness); if you refuse to walk over people to get to where you want to be (merciful); if you focus less on outward appearances for the praise of men (pure in heart); if you are trying to stop the fighting (peacemakers); if you are losing for refusing to give up (persecuted); if you are any one of these people today then Jesus says to you: You are welcome. Come on into my Kingdom. I have come for you. I am here for you.

Prayer

God of the humble, breaker of the lofty, teach me how to live lowly.

I seek to be low in my thinking, low in my speech and low in my actions. That you in time may lift me, position me and exalt me in your good purpose for my life.

The powers around me and any within are temporary. Bring down those that try and set up thrones in my life.

Take me to the broken and the suffering of this world that I might be with you.

Teach me power within humility that I may be more effective in this life.

Let me host your presence.

Amen