Everyone was happy about a new baby!  All of Elizabeth’s friends, family, and neighbors gathered and shared her joy.  Never mind if they’d perhaps gossiped about her or derided her infertility during less charitable moments…

Luke 1:57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.  58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.  59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

Human tradition said to name John the Baptist after his father, but “Zechariah the Baptist” just doesn’t have the same ring.  Spiritual recognition says to name him John because that’s the name God gave him through the angel.  Spiritual recognition was a hard lesson for Zechariah.  He’d failed that one once and wouldn’t do it again.

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” 62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.

(Wow, way to support your friend and family, you neighbors and relatives of Elizabeth!).  As if she and Zechariah hadn’t worked that out to obey the angel this time because the last effort when Zechariah was flying solo was such a display of ingratitude and doubt.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us– 72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. (Luke 1:57-80)

Questions for further thought:

• Imagine Zechariah mulling over the words of the angel, again and again, reliving every moment of his unbelief.  Do you think it made an impression on him, especially as he began to see the fulfillment?  How might his heart have reacted? 
• Even after the heart change, the consequences remained as the angel had outlined.  Then, Divine Intervention! After being silent so long, is it any wonder his voice would be open to praise?
• In what ways might some of this been rehearsed (in a good way to perfectly express what he wished he’d said before) and in other ways completely spontaneous (a pouring of his soul in the moment of total joy)?  Reread Zechariah’s words (above).

Oh Lord, when the circumstances of life rob us of words to speak, when we feel at a loss for anything that we could do, when the world seeks to steal our joy, to steal our peace, and to steal the life from us, remind us, Lord, that You are the way, the truth, and the life.  Remind us that You are sovereign, You are in control, and every opportunity is an opportunity to praise You.  We can praise You in health; we can praise You when we’re sick; we can praise You when we are rich; and we can praise You when You have provided for us in our poverty.  We can thank You for blessings that we have received. We can thank You for patience to wait for blessings that are still headed our way as the ancients are commended for (Hebrews 11).  Thank You for the beautiful fruit of patience and for this Advent season which is one of hopeful expectation as even pregnancy took nine months.  It’s a season to reminds us that both waiting and suffering produce fruit.  When You show up in Your full glory, we can and will continue to offer our voices in praise to You as if we’d been silent our whole lives and had our lips suddenly opened and voices inaugurated to praise anew!  Thank You Lord, that in Your mercy, You continually draw us to Yourself.  Thank You for salvation in Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

What’s the right thing to do?  It’s often hard to know.  The Bible admonishes us, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

Joseph was a righteous man and wanted to do what was theologically correct to maintain that righteousness.  According to the law, he had two options: “Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19)

That’s it: public disgrace (humiliation and even stoning) or divorce.  Two options that make a righteous man’s conscience uneasy.  Two choices he didn’t want to make.  Two alternatives and either one would break his heart.  He loved Mary.

Divine Intervention: A Third Way

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25)

Questions for further thought:

• Sometimes the choices all seem to be bad and the road appears as a dead end.  How did Joseph’s righteousness make him sensitive to hearing wisdom and give him courage for acting upon what the angel instructed?
• What do you do when confronted with only bad choices or when all seems hopeless?
• People sometimes claim there are 3 answers to prayer: Yes, No, and Wait.  Joseph couldn’t wait because eventually pregnancy shows if it progresses.  What other types of things remove the options of Wait or Delay from those available? 
• Is it ever a sin to delay?  When?

Lord Jesus, when we don’t know what to do and all the choices before us seemed to be bad ones, please come to our rescue! When the troubles of this world encroach upon our hearts and our consciences are chronically uneasy, we ask that You would show us the way; that Your Holy Spirit would guide us toward what will bring glory to You; and we will see another way through the troubled waters. We ask, Lord, that righteousness would prevail and that we would be wise and have courage and we would bear fruit for the Kingdom. You are Lord and we celebrate the miracles leading up to Your birth and a way that opens through the fog. We praise You! In Jesus Name and for His glory we pray. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:41-45)

Two babies by Divine Intervention.  One the old-fashioned way, albeit miraculous for two old people.  The other in an altogether uniquely miraculous way…from the Holy Spirit.  God could do the first old-fashioned way all day long until the cows come home, a world of geriatrics with children, if He wanted to.  The other, Mary’s baby—the Christ Child—this will never happen again.  Once in an eternal lifetime.  One Savior and He is enough!

Questions for further thought:

• Why was Mary’s pregnancy a once-for-all-time event?  Think about her virginity and the fulfillment of Scripture.
• Think about Good Friday’s Cross, the tomb, and the Resurrection of Jesus.  Why is it important that God will never do it again?
• What was helpful about Elizabeth’s proclamation that would have confirmed what the angel said? Luke 1:36-37 “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

Lord Jesus, we thank You that You only had to come once and the work that You did was so perfect that it never needs to be repeated. We ask, Lord, for You to open the eyes of family, friends, and those in our circles of influence to see the miraculous nature of Your birth and how it’s once in forever, not just once in a lifetime. We thank You for Your work in the manger, Your work in Your 30 years of life and 3 years of ministry, Your work on the Cross, and the work that You still do interceding for us in heaven. You are at the right hand of the Majesty on high, making intercession for us, and we praise You for that. Remind us that You are interceding for us when things seem like they are out of control, like evil is running amok. Help us to know that You are sovereign, that You are in control, and that we don’t have to worry even if things go in a very negative way. Remind us Lord that Your plan is for eternity. Your plan is spiritual. Your plans for the hearts and minds of people around this world are not only now but for future generations. Thank You Lord for rescuing us. Thank You for Your birth. Thank You for being the eternal Word made flesh. We pray this in Your Name. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Of all the unlikely people to receive Divine Intervention, it would probably have been Mary.  She was a genuine nobody in a nowhere world called Nazareth.  She was a simple Jewish girl with a simple Jewish faith and betrothed to a simple Jewish man with a simple righteousness that stands out in its pristine beauty and simplicity.

Divine Intervention complicates everything. 
And it never, ever, returns to normal.

Luke 1:34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  37 For no Word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your Word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38)

Questions for further thought:

• Can a woman ever go back to virginity after pregnancy? 
• How was Mary’s life changed in one pivotal moment of her assent to being the mother of the Messiah, to the Divine Intervention?
• Would her life ever go back to normal?
• Think about what COVID has done to nations around the globe.  We look at photos of how things used to be.  What about COVID has changed things permanently and in what ways can we someday go back to normal?
• Read Luke 2:25-35, especially, “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.” (Luke 2:34-35 ) How did Jesus change everything for Israel and a sign spoken against. Would the future ever look like normal motherhood for Mary?
• Now think about the distinctions between a person’s body and mind.  The human mind can be held captive or freed. A captive mind can exist in a free person. A mind can change. What kind of Divine Intervention is required to free a mind that has become accustomed to bondage?

Lord Jesus, how we praise You and thank You that those You set free are free indeed!  May we become increasingly aware of what is happening to our minds in our current culture, may we reject our minds being made slaves to evil, or silenced, and instead, submit to You and embrace the true freedom we have in You.  We praise You that this earth is temporary, and as it continues to spiral down, down, down that You have called us to be citizens of two kingdoms as followers of Christ.  We are citizens of this earth, yes, but we are citizens of the Kingdom that can never be destroyed.  We are citizens of Your Kingdom, Lord, and we praise You! 

Thank You that someday glorious freedom will surround us and be part of our lives once again in far greater measure!  We thank You that our hearts can belong to You even if our bodies are constrained by laws, by world events, by disease, by terror….and spiritually, we still have freedom in You! 

We ask, Lord, that You would give Divine Intervention in the lives of people whose minds are still captive, whose minds are still under the yoke of fear, under the yoke of terror, under the yoke of COVID, and under the yoke of Satan.  We ask Lord that You would intervene powerfully in the lives of our friends, our families, our neighbors–indeed people around this world who need to know You–and we pray, Lord, that their turning to You will hasten Your return. 

Oh, Lord, in this Christmas season, may people come to see in You the Light of the World, to see the freedom in Christ that You came to bring.  You, Lord Jesus, are victorious over sin and death!  The chains upon humanity have been broken!!!  You are the King of kings and Lord of lords!  We bow before You in worship at the manger, at the Cross, and before Your throne in heaven!  We offer this prayer in Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Have you ever been rendered speechless?  Being at a loss for words is fairly common.  Being suddenly deprived of your ability to speak is odd, if not otherworldly.  Divine Intervention.

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.  And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” (Luke 1:19-20)

Here’s Zechariah, in the Temple with a once-in-a-lifetime privilege!  The angel gives him unprecedented, good news for this old man and his old wife.  Here he is, a man of the cloth, a religious man, a priest!  And what’s his response?  Doubt.

Questions for further thought:

• How easy is it to doubt when circumstances seem to say, “Nothing’s Happening?”
• Many people assert that they’d believe if God would ___(fill in the blank)____.  If an angel, if God would write it across the sky, if He’s burn a bush right in your own front yard and tell you it’s holy ground, if He’d give you what you want…  Zechariah had an angel tell him the best news he could ever hope for, a holy messenger came to announce God was giving Zechariah the very joy he’d wanted since marrying Elizabeth.  How do our current circumstances in the natural world interfere with our ability to believe?
• Think about what you tell yourself. How does a rehearsing of what we fear in life or the natural course of earthly events keep us from hope?
• In the natural world, people don’t rise from the dead. In the natural world, old people don’t have reproductive capabilities to have babies together. In the natural world, whose actions rule our thought life?
• Now think about the supernatural world. Jesus reminds us, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23) Whose actions rule the supernatural?
• Why, particularly at Christmas, is it important to look beyond the natural world to believe the supernatural exists?
• Must one suspend his view of the natural world completely in order to believe that the supernatural happened at Christmas?

Father God, I do believe! Help me to overcome my unbelief.  The natural world, being in our faces all day long, tempts us to ignore what we cannot see as if it doesn’t exist. May I silently wait for it, to see it, to know it. Please, Lord, grant me the ability to look beyond my circumstances, to ignore what distractions there are that would keep me from faith in You, and to see with spiritual eyes things You wish me to see about Your will and Your activity in my midst. I acknowledge Your Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior! Help me to believe the story the Bible tells of His birth, when the supernatural descended to earth and divinity was clothed with humanity. Might we celebrate at Advent this beautiful interjection of what is spiritual upon the natural world. Thank You for giving us ample evidence to believe and in times of my doubting, help me, Lord, to overcome my stubborn unbelief. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Yeah, standing up for your faith in politically hostile environments can get you in trouble.  Big trouble.  King David knew it—Saul hunted him like an animal for 15 years before he finally became king.  Daniel knew it—he was put in the lions’ den and saved by God’s hand.  Jesus knew it—He was crucified but rose from the grave.

Do you know what it’s like to stand up for your faith in Christ?  In a world that regards politics as its god, are you willing to be persecuted for Just Saying No to the lesser god killjoy COVID, and instead celebrating Christmas, gathering at church, or sharing the Gospel with those who need to know Christ to keep Him in Christmas?

Daniel was an interesting guy.  His life was impeccable.  The administrators and satraps—call them the Babylonian Deep State—hated him. 

Daniel 6:4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.  5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

Jealousy and Hatred have no level to which they will not sink. 
They’re from the pit of hell.

Daniel 6:6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever!   7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.   8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered– in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”   9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.

Those snakes set a trap for Daniel and the king too preoccupied with kinging that he couldn’t even see.

Daniel heard about the decree and went on worshipping God.  He had his priorities straight even if he’d face persecution for it.  To the lions’ den he’d go.

Daniel 6:14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel

But the sentence was by his own signature, irrevocable.

Daniel 6: 16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

And God did.  Divine Intervention!

Daniel tells the king the following morning, Daniel 6:22 “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”  23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.   

Questions for further thought:

• No one ever said that being a Christian would be an easy path.  What makes us think that it would be a cakewalk?
• What determines whether you will take a stand? 
• What stands in your way? What effect should you let obstacles have?

Let’s pray, For all of us, Lord, who feel like we’re living day-to-day in the lions’ den with threats and persecutions and difficulties all around us, we ask Lord that You would be strong for us and that You would encourage us and strengthen us for the journey. We thank You that You are a God who wastes nothing in our lives even the sufferings that we endure. Let justice prevail! You shut the mouths of the lions in Daniel’s day to remind those of us who have attempted to live upright lives, that You will be faithful. We who believe in the High Road will remain steadfast, walking the only road that we are willing to take. It’s the road that leads to You! Oh Lord, we ask that those who come against us with words and deeds that insult the Word of God, that insult Your character, and insult Your followers, let vengeance be Yours! In Your timing, make evildoers who are trying to destroy every holy day for Your Church, may them pay! We cannot bear to see that evil just rules the day. Our hearts are grieved. Our hearts are sad. Our hearts are heavy, Lord. Indeed, we feel helpless. It seems like every day it’s just one more piece of bad news but in the end Lord, we know that You are good. You are faithful. You are strong! You are powerful!! And so we ask, Lord, that by the power of Your Holy Spirit, by the mighty hand of God, by the power and mercy You have…shield us, guard us, protect us, and bring us safely home to You. Thank You Lord Jesus that You gave us a pattern to follow–for the joy set before You, You endured everything, and You died on a Cross that You never deserved. There’s not much that we can do, but with what we do have, Lord, we bring it to You… small as it is… in prayer and with thanksgiving. Yes, Lord, we bring it though it seems like so little and ask that You would multiply it for Your glory. It’s for Your Name sake and Your glory we pray. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

God regrets things.  But it doesn’t mean He’d been wrong or made a mistake.  When your raw materials are sinful men, the process is ugly, but the final result will be worth it.

God anoints Saul.  He rejects Saul.  All part of the process.

“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night. (1 Sam. 15:11)

Samuel was angry.  He didn’t like the way the plan was unfolding and the political risk he was forced to accept.  Samuel mourned for Saul, taking the easy, routine, and complacent way, instead of saying something godly like, “I’m the Lord’s servant.”

1 Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”  2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

There ya’ go.  Samuel is afraid.  It’s easier to be complacent with evil infiltrating an entire nation than to confront it by taking political risk that might be personally harmful. (And some people think the Bible isn’t relevant…)

Divine Intervention.  The nation was in crisis. 
The king had failed to do the LORD’s work and obey His commands. 
Divine Intervention. 
A new king, but not one that looks like what the people would want. 
These things take time.

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”…

David—the man after God’s own heart–was not there.  He was working.  But Samuel still had his anointing oil and as of this moment, had no one to anoint.  “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”…

Sheep?  What kind of king would a shepherd make? 

1 Samuel 16:12 Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David.  (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

Questions for further thought:

• Shepherds were on the low end of society.  Kings were at the upper end of the social ladder.  Why is it telling that God would choose a shepherd?
• Think about the Christmas story and the announcement being given to shepherds (Luke 2:8-17).  Now think about Jesus as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18).  What does it say about human judgments and the ones who find favor with God?
• It was around 15 years between the moment God told Samuel to anoint David as king with the Spirit of the LORD resting powerfully upon him … and the time he would finally rule as king.  Fifteen years of waiting!  What does this tell us about God’s view of time?
• What does it tell us about patience on the part of David, year after year, when he knew he’d been anointed?
• What was God doing with David during those 15 years?  What was he doing with Saul and the world?
• Samuel told Saul the LORD’s message that he was rejected.  Saul also knew that David was to succeed him, and that put David at significant political risk.  What about faith in God defies political risk?  What does it say about one’s priorities?

Lord Jesus, in many ways You were countercultural; You were a revolutionary; and the revolution that You inspired has been God-honoring since the day You rose from the grave. We ask Lord that we might look at political risk the same way that You do, and do Your will, in the same way that You commanded giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and giving to God what is God’s.

We ask Lord that You would firm our resolve to have You as our priority. Father, that we would understand the consequences of leadership in the human realm, and our desire be an obligation according to Your word to submit to those authorities in our lives. Yet Lord we need to appreciate and acknowledge that You must be our highest priority and when those in human authority over us insist upon things that do not honor You that there is available to us, in the United States, a conscientious objection that Christians can have…to bring honor to You in all our comings and goings.

We acknowledge Your consequences upon those in leadership, for a world that has gone astray. The Bible was never more relevant than it is today! We ask for Your guidance for Christians in this difficult day and time. We ask for You to affirm our resolve, that we would stand for You no matter what the culture is doing, and that we would remain and endure as a light shining in darkness! Give us confidence, Lord, that the light that we shine is one that could never be extinguished because Jesus is the Light of the World and a city on a hill can never be hidden. A light on a stand can never be extinguished and so may we hold high this light as a beacon of our hope in Christ until You return.

We ask Lord that those family members and friends, those in our circles of influence who do not know You Lord, that they would see Your light at this Christmas Season like never before! That in the shadow of COVID and peril, this eternal Light points to You again and again just like at Lent, just like at Good Friday when all hope seemed lost, and just like Easter Sunday when it was rekindled anew.

Help us to see that Jesus is not just a helpless little baby in a manger but rather the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the eternal invading time…the Word made flesh! He rose from the grave and was victorious over death and that if it weren’t for Jesus, we would all perish in our sins. Bring us to that sure knowledge of You, Lord, that sure knowledge of Your salvation that touched the earth when You were born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. Help us to see with open eyes. Help us to receive with open hearts this Christmas gift of Yours to all mankind. We praise You and thank You for the faithfulness of Your Son Jesus Christ in whose Name we pray. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

A Promised Land means nothing if the Israelites move in and pollute it by sinning instead of displaying behavior becoming of Chosen People.  So God issues Ten Commandments beginning with Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me…”

Now they’d been tested in the desert and found wanting.  Faithlessly fearing man when God had already displayed His Divine Intervention many times.  God was very displeased—angry even—and said, “For forty years– one year for each of the forty days you explored the land– you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you.’ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.” (Numbers 14:34-35)

All this…amazingly… after “The LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.” (Read Exodus 20:1-22)

They’d seen it.  They’d known it.  They’d been shown it by Divine Intervention at the giving of the Ten Commandments.  And still sin has a tight grip, even on the Chosen People who had been eyewitnesses to God’s goodness and been given ample preparation for them to flourish in a land flowing with milk and honey He wanted them to enter.

Questions for further thought:

• What causes people who have been shown the truth to still reject it? 
• What does it say about the person/people rejecting it? 
• What hope is there for those who have seen the truth and rejected it? 
• Does God just overlook it or are there natural consequences for such behavior? 
• Are there any truths you’re being shown that you are refusing to accept?

Forgive us, Father, for the many ways that we reject and displease You, making You angry with us.  Forgive us for how we look askance at the blessings that You have in store for us in the future, and instead we look at human abilities and power structures—all the while denying You!  Looking in fear at our fellow man, Oh Lord.  Forgive us!  Open our eyes, remove the scales that keep us from seeing the truth, scales put there by the evil one who desires to deceive us and kill us, to lead us astray, and to lead us away from You, Lord.  We do not want You against us; we want You for us, and so help us to be people who obey You, who love You, who cherish You, who are willing to follow obediently, Lord.  You are righteous in all Your judgments. You are all wise and all-knowing.  Your timing is perfect.  Help us to have faith to do what You require. Help us to have that faith that is of great value to life now and our hope for the future.  We thank You for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We thank You for the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us.  We ask, Father, that You would protect our hearts.  We’ve seen Your power on our behalf.  Clearly show us what is true and give us obedient hearts to follow You in all things, at all times, and in all ways.  Be glorified in us today, Lord. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

What does it take for you to believe something?  Just reading it in print, or someone you regard saying that it’s so?  Maybe having it pass the “fact-checker” test or someone on Twitter telling you that it’s true?  Or sometimes, do you need to know it by someone showing you…in order to see it with your own eyes, experience it, and walk through it before you’ll wake up and fully believe? 

The Israelites and the Egyptians were about to get that and more.

Two problems though: The Israelites began to doubt and in their impatience, thought Moses was bringing nothing but trouble instead of rescue, and second, the Israelites had to look stupid to others before they’d finally get out.

This is the Exodus equivalent of God choosing “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise … the weak things of the world to shame the strong… so that no one may boast before Him.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)  But no one likes to look weak or foolish even when it serves God’s purpose.

Exodus 14:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this. (Exodus 14:1-4)

Isn’t it interesting that the most arrogant among us–in their conceit–will pass judgment on others, and fail to see the map (or the trap) laid before them?  Even showing them, their arrogance causes them to misinterpret.

Pharaoh concludes the Israelites are lesser beings, that they’re stupid and confused…instead of his thinking, “I’d better watch out.  These people are Chosen.  Their God has already done some pretty powerful stuff.  Don’t mess with their God.  Just let them go and be done with it.” 

But no, the arrogant are self-deluded.  Power does that to people.

Here comes Divine Intervention of a most awesome kind because God was going to glorify Himself.  Moses stands there with his staff.  The waters of the Red Sea part.  The presumed to be confused march through on dry land, not at all hemmed in by desert and sea. 

Still not getting it that the Chosen People were on their way out to worship God in the desert, the Egyptians rush in.  “During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.  He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.’” (Exodus 14:24-25)

Questions for further thought:

• Read Exodus 14:10-31.  How did God thoroughly glorify Himself? 
• In what way is there poetic justice in Pharaoh thinking the Israelites were confused when they weren’t but in verse 24 the LORD threw the whole Egyptian army into confusion? 
• Without Divine Intervention, the Israelites had no hope.  What does this teach us about prayer and trusting God for deliverance by His intervention at the perfect moment?

Lord Jesus, be glorified in our prayers and in our faith as we trust in You for Your perfect timing, Your perfect plan, and Your perfect intervention in our lives.  Father God, we praise You for the plan that You have for our deliverance, for the promised return of Your Son, our Lord Jesus in the Last Day to bring those who have faith in You through disaster and calamity and into Your glorious presence.  We ask, Father, that You would be glorified in us now and always as we exercise our trust in You.  We humbly ask Your mercy upon our lives, our families, our nation, and our world.  Please show mercy where mercy can be shown, deliver—by the power of Your Holy Spirit–poetic justice where it is deserved.  Help us to see You clearly as the only true God.  We offer these prayers in the mighty Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

The most grievous and powerful plague upon Egypt was also the most important Divine Intervention for the ancient Hebrews.  It’s a pattern of salvation and one set apart for remembrance through the ages: the plague against the firstborn in Egypt.  Jews and Christians alike celebrate it as Passover, even today thousands of years later, because it was a Divine Intervention of the most amazing kind.

It was catastrophic for “the Egyptians” (read not as a modern national identity, but as powerful people of that day those who worshiped other gods).  For them, it was devastating.  Tragic.  Horrific. 

“Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt– worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (Exodus 11:4-7)

A clear and compelling case of God’s playing favorites.  The Chosen People??  How dare God choose some to save and to punish others!  Who does He think He is?  That must be how the Egyptians who lost their firstborn sons felt, never mind that their Pharaoh had demanded not just the firstborn, but all sons of the Hebrews be thrown into the Nile not that long ago.  (Exodus 1:22)

But there’s this little thing called worship and a really big deal about which god one worships: one of our making, or the One who made us. 
One can be remade, reshaped, and rejected at will.
The other—the One True God—will not be mocked. 
Moses makes it plain to the most powerful man in the world.

“All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.  The LORD had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you– so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” (Exodus 11:8-9)

Questions for further thought.

• Read about the preparations for the Passover in Exodus 12, identifying what was God’s Divine Intervention and what was man’s participation.
• “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.  The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.  “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD– a lasting ordinance (Exodus 12:12-14).
• In what ways does God incorporate human responses into His Divine Intervention?  Why does God honor human will and freedom?
• How were God’s wonders multiplied in Egypt? 
• What types of situations merit God’s intervention?
• This was a big Divine Intervention.  Does God always do big, global events, or can He also do micro-interventions that are just as miraculous and purposeful?
• In the modern world, people will resort to murder over cartoons of their prophet.  What about making fun of Christians and the Christ, cartoons and defacing churches, even burning them, and engaging in antisemitism to no consequence?  Would you say that is mocking God? 
• What about God’s understanding and use of time is informative here?

Let’s pray, Thank You, Lord, for the deliverance that You gave the Israelites on that terrible night when You killed the firstborn of Egypt, yet spared the Israelites who had obediently painted blood upon the doorposts of their homes. Lord, You establish ways of living, ways of doing things… You outline them in Your word, You lay them upon our hearts as a function of conscience, and You codify them through– not just the 10 Commandments—but also through the laws of many God-fearing nations. We thank You that You are a God who will not be mocked because You are the One True God.  We humbly accept and welcome that vengeance is Yours, and in Your timing, You make everything right.  So during these days when things are so confusing, when there are assertions and challenges, and caution statements from social media warning about disputed ideas someone doesn’t want us to hear, we thank You that Your word is true, Your word is solid, Your word is reliable, and that You are the One True God who will never be mocked, who will execute wrath in Your timing and to exquisite perfection. Thank You, Father, for Jesus, Your Son and our Savior and it’s in His mighty Name that we pray, humbly offering ourselves as His servants to follow Him until His return. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.