MONDAY 8 DECEMBER
Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-11
The tremendous difference the Holy Spirit makes
In this wonderful passage from the prophecy of Isaiah, we see the tremendous difference the Lord makes when He fills people with His power. John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his birth. Jesus had a special anointing of the Spirit when He came upon Him in His baptism. On the Day of Pentecost the disciples were all filled with the Spirit and became fantastic witnesses. Ever since then the Holy Spirit has been poured out on Christians, making such a huge difference to their lives. Let’s glean Isaiah’s prophecy to see the great difference God’s Holy Spirit makes. He sets free all who are suffering in any way: the poor, the broken-hearted, those who have been made captive by other men (or addictions to alcohol, drugs and sin). When the Good News is shared with them by Spirit-filled believers, they are given faith in God to set them free from the causes of all their suffering.
As God’s Spirit lifts people up, He transforms their lives. Instead of unhappy faces full of doom and gloom, He gives them a ‘crown of beauty’ and their lives radiate with so much happiness. At Christmas time we have lots of parties. When God’s Spirit gives us the experience of salvation, it’s like a wedding – we are part of Jesus’ Bride, married to Him. So He robes us with our wedding garments; the garments of salvation. Dressed so nicely and adorned, we have much joy in celebrating our union with Jesus. We dance, we sing and we shout with joy. We have something to celebrate. God has made us the happiest people on earth – alleluia!
PRAYER: Father, we thank you for the tremendous difference the Spirit makes. He enables us to hear and believe the Good News that Jesus has saved us and is being married to us as we put on the garments of salvation – our wedding gowns. Let’s celebrate, let’s dance and sing and shout with joy as you crown us with beauty and make us the happiest people on earth, through Jesus our bridegroom. Amen.
TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER
Luke 1.46-54
My soul magnifies the Lord
Today’s reading is the beautiful song that Mary, the mother of Jesus, sang when she was visiting her cousin Elizabeth. Both of them were expecting babies at the time. Elizabeth was bearing John the Baptist and Mary had Jesus growing in her womb. This was a very joyful encounter for them both. They knew that it was no ordinary baby in each of them. Elizabeth was filled with God’s Holy Spirit as they met. She felt so favoured that the mother of her Lord had come to visit her. She cried out loud, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you bear.” Even her unborn baby seemed to understand the presence of Mary and Jesus as he leapt with joy in Elizabeth’s womb!
Mary was so exhilarated and filled with joy that she burst into song. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” Mary was so happy that God had chosen a lowly, humble girl like herself to be the mother of His Son. It was such an honour to be so favoured by God. Her heart went out to God as she praised and adored Him. Her song has been sung so many millions of times down through two millennia.
As God had blessed her, so she could see how much He was going to save the whole world through her son. He was to bring a real sense of fairness to everyone. God was about to keep the promises He had made to Abraham and all God’s people! The Bible makes it clear that each one of us is favoured by God. Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, longing to come in. As we open the door and let Him in, we become His best friend. This makes us rejoice and magnify God as much as Mary did.
PRAYER: Dear Father God, as Mary rejoiced when she saw how favoured she was, so we, too, rejoice as we discover how much you favour us. We pray that you will fill us with your Holy Spirit and tell out to the whole world what a fantastic God you are and all you are doing for your people, through Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER
1 Thessalonians 5.12-28
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances
This is one of the most important texts from the whole of God’s Word. We are like trains going to heaven. Verses 16, 17 and 18, which say to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances, prevent us from being derailed on the way! When we are always rejoicing, always praying and always giving thanks, the devil can’t touch us. The devil likes to trick us by saying, “You can only rejoice when everything is going well and you feel happy. You can only pray when you feel close to God and you can only give thanks when good things happen, certainly not when things go wrong and dreadful things take place.” The devil says, “Complain always, be worried and anxious continually. Get angry in all circumstances because things are bound to go wrong. Get very angry when they do go wrong.” How can we rejoice when we feel unhappy, pray when God seems so far away and give thanks when everything goes wrong? It’s easy! We have to remember who is driving the train. As Christians, we surrender our lives to God. We let Him have full control. When God is in control, we can’t be derailed or take the wrong line at each junction. We can rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances because “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose,” and “nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8.28; 8.39), and “we know that the one who calls us is faithful and will do it” (verse 24).
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we surrender our whole lives to you. We know that in all things you work for our good and nothing can separate us from you, so we promise to obey your will and rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. Thank you, Jesus, for helping us to do this. Amen.
THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER
Isaiah 60.15-22
Milk and Light
In this passage the prophet Isaiah predicts the coming of the Lord Jesus to be the Saviour of the whole world. He uses two illustrations to show the wonderful, fantastic effect Jesus will have on the world – milk and light! When Jesus saves us and we are born again into His family, we become His pride and joy, like a new-born baby is to his mother. Because we are born again into His family we become royalty!
As a mother feeds her baby with her own milk, so Jesus feeds us with royal milk; the milk of His Word, which nourishes us and makes us really strong. There is a huge difference between born-again Christians and non-Christians. The milk of God’s Word makes us different. He makes us righteous. What does righteous mean? It means being able to stay in a right relationship with God and each other! The royal milk of God’s Word makes us like Jesus, always loving, always thinking of others, always giving, always forgiving, always one with our adopted brothers and sisters. The second illustration Isaiah uses is light. Born-again Christians are called ‘children of light.’ The light of God constantly shines on us and we are constantly reflecting that light. Light stands for the holiness and goodness of God. Darkness stands for all evil.
Because the light is always shining on us, all evil is driven away from us. Sin and selfishness shrivel up and die and the fruits of God’s Spirit grow in us (see Galatians 5.19-22). Let’s constantly remain in the wonderful rays of God’s light and truly be children of light!
PRAYER: Father, thank you that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross we are born again into your royal family. Keep feeding us with the pure milk of your Word and letting your light shine on us constantly, enabling us to remain truly righteous, always bearing the fruits of your Holy Spirit, through Jesus our milk and our light. Amen.
FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER
Luke 7.18-28
John’s doubts
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the time of his birth, and the Spirit made him know without doubt that he was to prepare the Jewish nation for the coming of the Messiah. When he baptised Jesus in the Jordan, God showed him that Jesus was the Messiah!
However, soon after Jesus had begun His ministry, John started having a few doubts about Jesus. John still held the Jewish notion of the Messiah: the saviour king who would overthrow Israel’s enemies and conquer the whole world. As Jesus raised no army and showed no signs of overthrowing the Roman occupying forces, John was beginning to think Jesus was not the Messiah, so he sent a delegation to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?” Jesus was quick with His reply. He tells John’s disciples to go back to John and tell him the wonderful things that are happening; the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hearing and the dead raised! As well as all that, the Good News is being preached to the poor! Jesus is saying that the prophecies about the Messiah from Isaiah 61 are coming true! The Jews had gotten it all wrong. The Messiah conquered, not by force, but by the healing, life-saving power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus confirmed that John the Baptist was the one the prophets spoke about, who would prepare the way for the Messiah. Because of this very special task, Jesus considered John the most important person ever born. However, he said that the least in the kingdom of God was greater that he. Jesus declares us all to be so great because He has given us the great task of opening people’s lives up to believe in Jesus and accept Him into their hearts as Lord and Saviour.
PRAYER: Father, we are utterly convinced that Jesus is the Saviour of the world because we have seen all the fantastic things He has done and is doing in our lives. Help us to be effective witnesses and convince people of their need for the Saviour and encourage them to accept Him as Saviour and Lord, through Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER
John 1.6-8, 19-28
A witness to the light
Jesus is the light of the world. He shines into the lives of all He has made to dispel all the darkness in them. John the Baptist came as a witness to testify concerning the light. His job was to convince men to believe in the light and so have the light shine in their hearts. John was not the light. He only pointed people to the light. In today’s world all of us who are Christians have the same task that John had. We are to tell everyone the tremendous difference Jesus has made in our lives since we have started believing in Him and letting His light shine in our hearts. John Newton was inveloped in the worst darkness when he was a slave trader. Then someone testified to him about the light of Jesus and pointed the way to him, and John Newton opened his heart and accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord. What an enormous difference Jesus made! He expressed what the power of the light did for him when he wrote the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace (how sweet the sound) that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Like John, all of us who know Jesus stand in the spiritual wilderness of our world. Our task is to make straight for everyone we can the way of the Lord. We are all to point people towards Jesus. Let’s each one of us think of the many things that Jesus has done for us; the tremendous difference He has made since we have let His light shine on our hearts. Then let’s write them down and look for people we can share some of these things with. Let’s go all out to let everyone know about Jesus. At Christmas time we have such a good opportunity because everyone is celebrating His birthday.
PRAYER: Jesus, let your light shine more brightly than ever in my heart. Give me the courage and the power to tell everyone what Jesus has done for me and point them to Jesus. Amen.
SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE
As we look at the gospel for today we see John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. He proclaims that Jesus is the light that is coming into the world to dispel the world’s darkness.
What will Jesus do to bring light into peoples’ darkness? . God gives us the answer in the prophecy of Isaiah. He anoints Him with the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor.
He gives hope to everyone especially those who are struggling and finding life difficult.
He promises to heal the broken hearted. He also promises to set captives free. The freedom he brings is freedom to those who are slaves to sin and addictions including alcoholics and drug addicts. Those whose lives are in darkness because they are under a huge cloud of guilt are released from the burden of their misdeeds. He brings tremendous comfort to all those who are grieving.
He makes everyone extremely happy and joyful by clothing them with the garments of salvation and the robes of righteousness. This means by His death on the cross He purifies their hearts so that He can come ands live in them and He makes them all fit for heaven. Jesus makes all the good and excellent qualities of life grow in us like well nourished plants.
Paul helps us to keep our freedom and to keep the light of Jesus shining from us with several instructions. We are to respect and obey our leaders when they correct us. We are to warn those who are lazy and idle, encourage those who are shy and timid, and help those who are weak and can’t manage. He urges us to be patient with everyone, always to be kind and never to pay back wrong for wrong.
The Holy Spirit sets our hearts on fire when Jesus is living in us and we are living in Him. We must always keep that Fire burning very strongly. Paul recommends three types of fuel to keep this fire burning:
- Be joyful always
- Pray continually
- Give thanks in all circumstances
When we obey these instructions, God gives us in the Bible, our hearts are always ready for Jesus and He uses us to bring others into His light and prepare their hearts for Him.
PRAYER: Father, as John the Baptist, was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth and was enabled by the Spirit to prepare the way for Jesus, so we pray that you fill us all with the Holy Spirit and make us powerful witnesses showing everyone the way to Jesus our most wonderful fantastic Saviour. Amen.