Dawn 2 Dusk Whisper of a Miracle in the Middle of the NightOn this December 9, we pause over one breathtaking promise: the Lord Himself would give a sign so unexpected that it would divide doubters from believers forever. A virgin would bear a Son, and His very name would declare that God had stepped into our story, not from a distance, but from within our skin. Isaiah 7:14 isn’t a cozy holiday slogan; it is a thunderclap of grace in the dark corridors of human fear, sin, and helplessness. A Sign Beyond Human Possibility Isaiah first spoke these words into a moment of national panic. King Ahaz was staring down powerful enemies, and instead of trusting the Lord, he was looking for human alliances. Into that storm, God promised a sign no human strategy could manufacture—a virgin conceiving and bearing a Son called Immanuel. God wasn’t just offering short-term relief; He was promising a Savior whose very arrival would shatter the limits of what humans can do or even imagine. Centuries later, Matthew points straight back to this prophecy: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel’ (which means, ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:22–23). The birth of Jesus is not a religious legend or a seasonal metaphor; it is God staking His reputation on His own Word. If a virgin really conceived by the Holy Spirit, then God really intervenes, really keeps promises, and really can be trusted with your life today. God With Us, Not Against Us Immanuel does not just mean that God is near; it means that in Christ, God has taken our side against sin, death, and hell. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The eternal Son did not appear as an illusion or a mere messenger. He took on our humanity so completely that He could hunger, weep, grow tired—and finally bleed and die in our place. “Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). God with us means God fighting for us, all the way to the cross. Think about what that says to your fears today. If God has already drawn this near—into a manger, into temptation, into pain, into death itself—then nothing in your story is foreign ground to Him. The same Jesus who was “in very nature God” and yet “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6–7) now meets you in your anxiety, your family tensions, your secret battles with sin. Immanuel means you never again have to wonder if God is against you when you belong to Christ; the cross has already answered that question forever. Living as If Immanuel Is True Today If Immanuel is more than a word on a Christmas card, then it has to reshape our ordinary December days. God with us means we no longer treat prayer as a ritual, but as a real conversation with a real Person who is nearer than our breath. It means we bring Him into the budget worries, the strained relationships, the decisions about our future. When temptation whispers that no one sees, faith remembers: Immanuel. When loneliness says you are forgotten, truth answers: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Immanuel also calls us to carry His presence into the world around us. The One who moved into our neighborhood now sends us into ours. “We are therefore ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Today, living as if Immanuel is true might mean slowing down to listen to a hurting friend, speaking the gospel with clarity and love, or offering generous kindness where others only expect irritation. The God who came near in a virgin’s womb now comes near through His Spirit in you. Let your life say, by word and action, “God is with us”—and He is inviting you to come to Him. Lord Jesus, thank You for coming as Immanuel, God with us. Help me live today as if You are truly near—trusting You, obeying You, and pointing others to You. Morning with A.W. Tozer The Secret Working of GodI do believe in the secret and mysterious working of God in the human breast. I must believe it after finding the forgiving and converting grace of God in the Savior, Jesus Christ. My father and mother held high human standards, but completely without any thought of God. My parents appeared to be without any spark of desire after God; attitudes that were cold, earthy, profane. Can you tell me why, then, at the age of 17, as a boy surrounded by unbelief-l00 percent-I could find my way to my mother's attic, kneel on my knees, and give my heart and life in committal to Jesus Christ? I cannot tell you why. I can only say that I know there is such a thing as the secret workings of God within the human being who has a sensitivity to hear the call of God. In my own case, I do have the testimony that my conversion to Jesus Christ was as real as any man's conversion has ever been! My fellow man, if the Spirit of God is still tugging at your heart, thank God-and follow the light! Music For the Soul The Holy Spirit of PromiseThe Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God’s own possession. - Ephesians 1:14 "The Holy Spirit of promise," given to all who believe, is here declared to dwell in and to seal believers as the "earnest" of their "inheritance"; whilst, on the other hand, that sealing is declared to last until - or, as seems more probably the rendering of the preposition here, to be done with a view unto - the full redemption of God’s purchased " possession." So that the two halves of the thought are intentionally brought together in these words. And about both of them - God’s possession of us and our possession of God - it is asserted or implied, that they are partially realized here, and are to be realized more fully in the future. An "earnest" is a portion of the estate which is paid over to the purchaser on the completion of the purchase, as the token that all is his and that it will all come into his hands in due time. Like that part of a man’s wages given to him in advance when he is engaged; like the shilling put into the hand of a recruit; like the half-crown given to the farm-servant at the hiring-fair; like the bit of turf that in some old ceremonials used to be solemnly presented to the sovereign on his investiture, - it is a portion of the whole possession, the same in kind, but a very tiny portion, which yet carries with it the acknowledgment of ownership and the assurance of full possession. So the " Spirit of God is the earnest of the inheritance," a small portion of it granted to us to-day, and the pledge that all shall be granted in the future. And the same idea of present imperfection is suggested in the corresponding clause, which speaks about God’s entire purchase (for there is an emphasis in the Greek word in the original), His possession as also a thing of the future. We possess God in the measure in which we know Him, love Him, and have communion and sympathy with Him. These things - knowledge, love, communion, sympathy - make a very real and a very precious possession of God; and he who has God thus has Him as truly, though not as perfectly, as the angels in heaven that burn before His throne. But though that is true, there is yet another aspect of this possession of God. The Holy Spirit of promise comes to every man that believes in Jesus Christ, and enters into his heart and becomes his. That is the truest way in which man possesses God. The greatest gift that my faith brings down to me from heaven is the gift of an indwelling Spirit - of an indwelling God. For the Spirit of God is God. He that has God in his heart by the dwelling there, in mystic reality, of the Divine Spirit possesses Him as truly as he possesses love or memory, imagination or hope. There can be nothing deeper, nothing greater, nothing more real in the manner of possession, than the possession which every one of us may have of an indwelling God for our life and our peace. It passes all human analogy. Love gives us the ownership, most really and most sweetly, of the hearts that we love. But, after all the yearning desires for union, and experience of oneness in sympathy, the awful wall of partition between spirits remains; and life may, and death must, separate - but he that has God’s Divine Spirit with him has God for the life of his life and the soul of his soul. And we possess Him when, by faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Isaiah 30:18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. God often delays in answering prayer. We have several instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day--he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord thrice that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God's grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show his power and his sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit. Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if he keeps thee waiting thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes thee tarry awhile that he may the more fully display the riches of his grace to thee at last. Thy prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook The "All" of BeliefOur unbelief is the greatest hindrance in our way; in fact, there is no other real difficulty as to our spiritual progress and prosperity. The LORD can do everything; but when He makes a rule that according to our faith so shall it be unto us, our unbelief ties the hands of His omnipotence. Yes, the confederacies of evil shall be scattered if we can but believe. Despised truth shall lift its head if we will but have confidence in the God of truth. We can bear our load of trouble or pass uninjured through the waves of distress if we can gird our loins with the girdle of peace, that girdle which is buckled on by the hands of trust. What can we not believe? Is everything possible except believing in God? Yet He is always true; why do we not believe in Him? He is always faithful to His word; why can we not trust Him? When we are in a right state of heart, faith costs no effort: it is then as natural for us to rely upon God as for a child to trust his father. The worst of it is that we can believe God about everything except the present pressing trial. This is folly. Come, my soul, shake off such sinfulness, and trust thy God with the load, the labor, the longing of this present. This done, all is done. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Neither Pray I for These Alone, but for Them Also Which Shall Believe on MeBeloved, when Jesus was praying for His disciples, He prayed for us; His prayer extended to all who believe, however fearful, weak, and timid. He prayed that we may be one with Himself; one with His church, as members of the same body, children of the same family, heirs of the same inheritance, and parts of the same spiritual temple. He prayed that we may be so one as the Father is one with Him, and as He is one with the Father; that we may have the same love influencing us, the same object always in view, and may exhibit the same virtues. What glorious privileges our Saviour here prays that we may enjoy! What honours He seeks for us! What unspeakable blessedness! Think of being one with God; one with God as Jesus is; one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be of one mind, one will, and, as it were, of one soul. Gracious, gracious Lord, hasten on the time when this all-comprehending prayer shall be fully answered in our experience! Let us, beloved, daily pray for this blessing; nothing can be greater, sweeter, or more important. Thy revealing Spirit give, Whom the world cannot receive : Fill me with Thy Father’s love; Never from my soul remove : Dwell in me, and I shall be Thine through all eternity. Bible League: Living His Word "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."— Isaiah 7:14 NIV There are things that happen in our world that just seem downright impossible. A mammal that lays eggs? Sounds impossible! A cloud holds 551 tons of water and yet floats above the earth? That's Impossible! The Chicago Cubs win a World Series? IMPOSSIBLE! Approximately 740 years before the Messiah was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold His coming. Sounds impossible, right? That's not even the most difficult thing to believe about the Christmas story. Isaiah said that the Messiah would be born of a virgin! How is that even remotely possible? As the angel told Jesus' mother, Mary in Luke 1:37 (ERV), "God can do anything!" It's true, you know. God can do ANYTHING! There is nothing that is impossible for God. Maybe you're struggling with fear this Christmas season. You may wonder, "Will God really provide for my needs?" Perhaps you're dealing with doubts about God's love for you. "Does God really love me?" It could be that your past fills you with guilt and shame. "Can God really forgive me after what I've done?" Friend, God can do anything. If you seek Him first, He has promised to provide everything you need. He loves you with an unlimited, unending, and unconditional love. He has forgiven you completely and wiped the slate clean. You are justified freely by His grace through faith in His Son Jesus. Whatever fears, doubts, anxiety, worry, shame, or guilt you're facing this Christmas, know that God can do anything. There's nothing that is impossible for God. The name "Immanuel" literally means "God with us." If God is with us, then nothing that comes against us can prevail. The story of the prophet Isaiah and Mary, the mother of Jesus, intersected in a manger in Bethlehem. Something that seemed so impossible became reality. Your impossible can become reality, too. All you must do is believe in the One who can do anything. By Shawn Cornett, Bible League International staff, Illinois U.S. Daily Light on the Daily Path Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice Is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice.Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? 1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. Matthew 12:33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. Hosea 12:6 Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually. Luke 10:39,42 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. • but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.Insight If you have ever seen the constant rolling of huge waves at sea, you know how restless they are—subject to the forces of wind, gravity, and tide. Doubt leaves a person as unsettled as the restless waves. Challenge If you want to stop being tossed about, rely on God to show you what is best for you. Ask him for wisdom, and trust that he will give it to you. Then your decisions will be sure and solid. Devotional Hours Within the Bible True BlessednessEmerson’s advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest attainments. It has been noted, that if the world would make a set of beatitudes, they would be just the reverse of those that Jesus spoke. None of the classes pronounced blessed by Him would be called happy by the world. The poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and holiness are not the world’s favorites. These are not the qualities natural men consider most worthy of quest. The first beatitude is for the humble ones. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This beatitude is not for the poor in an earthly sense, for one may be very poor and yet proud ; and one may be rich in worldly goods and yet be lowly in spirit, in disposition. The Bible everywhere praises humility. God dwells with the humble. Christ refers only once in the Gospels to His own heart, and through the window He opens, it is this picture that we see, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (11:29). To be poor in spirit is to be rich toward God; while pride of heart is spiritual poverty. Humility is the key that opens the gate of prayer; while to the loud knocking of pride, there comes no answer. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the humble. They may wear no earthly crown but a crown of glory, unseen by men, rests upon their heads even here in this world. The second beatitude is for those who mourn. We do not usually regard mourners as blessed. We pity them and think their condition unenviable. Christ, however, has a special beatitude for those who are sorrowful. Probably He means particularly penitent mourners, those who are sorrowful on account of their sins. In all this world there is nothing so precious in the sight of God as the tear of contrition. No diamonds or pearls shine with such brilliance, in His sight. It was Jesus Himself who said there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents (Luke 15:10). Truly blessed, therefore, are those who mourn over their sins. They are comforted with the comfort of God’s pardon and peace. But the beatitude refers also to those who are in sorrow. Blessing never is nearer to us, than when we are in affliction, if we submit ourselves to God in love and trust. Someday we shall understand that we have received our best things from heaven, not in the days of our joy and gladness but in the time of trial and affliction. Tears are lenses through which our eyes see more deeply into heaven and look more clearly upon God’s face than in any other way. Sorrow cleanses our hearts of earthliness, and fertilizes our lives. We grow the best when clouds hang over us, because clouds bear rain and rain refreshes. Then God’s comfort is such a rich blessed experience, that it is well worthwhile to endure any sorrow in order to receive it. The third beatitude is for the meek. Meekness is not a popular quality. The world calls it a cowardly spirit, which leads a man to remain quiet under insult, to endure wrong without resentment, to be treated unkindly and then to give kindness in return. Men of the world say that the disposition of meekness is unmanly, that it shows weakness, cowardice, a lack of strength. So it might be if we looked to the world for our ideal of manhood. But we have a truer, a diviner example for our model of manliness, than any that this world has set up. Jesus Christ is the only perfect man who ever lived in this world, and when we turn to His life we see that meekness was one of the most marked qualities of His character. He was gentle of disposition, never provoked, patient under wrong, silent under reproach. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not. Possessing all power, He never lifted a finger to avenge a personal injury. He answered with tender love, all men’s wrath, and on His cross, when the blood was flowing from His wounds He prayed for His murderers. Meekness is then no cowardly spirit, since in Christ it shone so luminously. Then it is not an impoverishing virtue but an enriching grace. The meek shall inherit the earth. The fourth beatitude is for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. This, strangely, is a beatitude for dissatisfaction. We know that peace is promised to the Christian, and peace is calm repose and satisfied restfulness. The words hunger and thirst appear to suggest experiences incompatible with rest and peace. But when we think more deeply we see that spiritual hunger must form a part of all true Christian experience. Hunger is mark of health. It is so in physical life; the loss of appetite indicates disease. So a healthy mind is a hungry one; when one becomes satisfied with one’s attainments, one ceases to learn. In spiritual life, too, hunger is health. If we become satisfied with our condition of faith, love, obedience and consecration, we are in an unhappy condition. There is not growth after that. Often invalids die amid plenty, die of starvation; not because they can get no food but because they have no appetite. There are many professing Christians who are starving their souls in the midst of spiritual provision, because they have no hunger. There is nothing for which we should pray more earnestly, than for spiritual longing and desire. The fifth beatitude is for the merciful. Cruelty is opposed to everything Divine and heavenly. All that is unloving is condemned in the Scriptures. Blessing cannot come to the resentful, the unforgiving, the vindictive, to those who have no sympathy with distress, no hand to help human need. In our Lord’s picture of the last judgment, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, those on the right hand are those who have been kind, gentle, patient, thoughtful, ministering to suffering and need. Jesus Himself set an example of mercifulness. His miracles were for the relief of those who were suffering. We must note in this beatitude also, that we receive in life what we give the merciful shall obtain mercy. The unmerciful shall find the gates closed upon them, when they cry for help. A boy stood before a perpendicular crag, and when he began to shout he heard the echo of his own voice. When he spoke gently, a gentle voice responded. When he spoke angrily ; he was answered back in angry tones. It is so in life. Those who show kindness to others, receive kindness in return. Those who are bitter, selfish and cruel find this a loveless world to live in. The sixth beatitude is for the pure in heart. There is no beatitude for anything unholy. There is no room with God for anything that defiles. If we would enter heaven, we must prepare for heaven here. To a child who expressed a wonder how he could get up to heaven, because it was so far away a wise mother’s reply was, “Heaven must first come down to you; heaven must first come into your heart.” Heaven must really be in us before we can enter heaven. Just was we become pure in heart, are we made ready for the heavenly life. But what is heart purity? It is not sinlessness, for none are sinless. A pure heart must be a penitent heart, one that has been forgiven by Christ, cleansed by His grace. It is one also that is kept pure by obedient living, and close communion with Christ. An essential part of true religion before God is, to keep one’s self unspotted from the world. It is an evil world in which we live but if we carefully follow our Master, doing His will, keeping our hearts ever open to the influences of the Holy Spirit, we shall be kept, Divinely kept, from the corruption about us. As the lily grows up pure and unstained amid the soiled waters of the bog so does the lowly, loving, and patient heart of a Christian, remain pure in the midst of all this world’s evil. The seventh beatitude is for the peacemakers. Too many people are not peacemakers. Some people seem to delight in finding differences between neighbors or friends which they try not to heal but to widen. Christ’s beatitude is for those who seek always to make peace. When we find two people in danger of being estranged by some misunderstanding, we should seek to get them together and prevent their falling apart. If we would be true peacemakers, we must never be quarrelsome or easily offended. Paul says that love is not easily provoked, that is, it does not take account of little or great hurts but is patient and forbearing (see 1 Corinthians 13). It is a great thing to be a peacemaker. Of the peacemakers it is said, “They shall be called sons of God.” The eighth beatitude is for those who are “ persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Some people avoid persecution by conforming to the world, by being very careful never to offend the world. But Christ wants us to be loyal and true to Him, whatever the cost may be. Blessing comes upon those who suffer persecution for Christ’s sake. Paul spoke of the wounds and scars he had received in persecution, as marks of Jesus, honorable decorations. We must notice, however, that is it when we are persecuted for righteousness sake that we get this beatitude. Sometimes people suffer for being ill-natured, but the blessing cannot be claimed in this case. It is when we do the will of God and suffer for it that we can claim the Divine blessing. We are commanded to rejoice and be exceeding glad when called to suffer reproach and injury for Christ’s sake. It is not easy to do this, although many Christians have actually rejoiced in pain and trial, so strong was their faith. Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts, wrote exultantly, “Now I am beginning to be a disciple!” In two striking figures Jesus showed His disciples what they were to be in the world, how they were to bless it by the influence of their lives. “You are the salt of the earth.” You are, by living your new life in the world to preserve it from rotting. This seemed a strange thing to say that day to a little handful of fishermen but these men and their successors have done just that for the world through the centuries. We know what salt is and what its influence is. We are to be the salt of the earth, not merely in the words we speak but especially in the influence of our lives. We must take heed therefore that the salt we are does not lose its savor, its power to bless. We must make sure that the world is purified, sweetened and made better in every way by our living in it. “You are the light of the world.” We are lamps which Christ lights and which are to shine upon the world’s darkness for its enlightening. We must remember that the light of heaven can reach other lives and brighten the world only through us. We must see to it, therefore, that the light in us never fails. We must never allow it to be covered up by anything. The object of the shining is not to glorify the lamp but to honor God. We are not to parade our virtues but to brighten the world and lead men to love our heavenly Father. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingHosea 1-4 Hosea 1 -- Hosea Takes Gomer as Wife to Show Israel's Unfaithfulness NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 2 -- Israel's Unfaithfulness Condemned; Reconciliation Promised NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 3 -- Hosea Redeems His Wife to Show the Lord's Reconciliation to Israel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 4 -- God Pronounces Judgments for Israel's Sins NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Jude Jude 1 -- Warnings to the Ungodly; Call to Persevere and Grow in Grace NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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