Romans 8:28

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

Oh, how I love these verses.  I have found such comfort in them many, many times.  As I go through life, striving to follow God’s plan, I have found many joys and many sorrows.  Haven’t we all?  One day things seem as if they couldn’t be any better and the next we wonder how we will continue.

Life isn’t easy - Plain and simple.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

Thankfully though, for the Christian, there is so much hope.

Romans 8:28 is one of the most beloved and far-reaching promises in the Bible, other than our promise of salvation, that I can think of. 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

This guarantee more than any other in the Bible has helped me to put my trust in God when things seem like all hope is lost; when life will seem meaningless and the anguish and wickedness of this fallen world will seem like an ever rising tide of despair and sadness that will soon drown out even the slightest glint of happiness.  Hope!  That is what I find here.  Through all of the evil that I see – Hope in God and faith that His word has never failed me before.  I remember that his promises have always been kept from the beginning of time, so why would now be any different.  Although life may seem pointless, hopeless, and full of despair – I hold fast to “all things” and put my faith in the word of God – That the good, the bad, and the absolutely terrible will turn out for good.

When we turn on the TV, possibly look outside our own doors, or possibly right in our own homes, we see the wickedness of a world drenched in sin and the spoils of a people who aren't following Christ.  Why must it be SO hard to trust in our Father in times such as these?  It is so much easier to give up faith in this promise that God made to us.  How can children being killed, people dying of disease, communities that are destroyed by horrific natural disasters, men and women killing each other in battle, the world economy plummeting in desperation, and many other terrible events in both the public and private lives of every one of us be used for good?

I must say that I haven’t been able to find one person who can say just exactly how each one of these things can be used for good but I know one that does know… God knows.  These events and things weren't part of God’s original plan for humanity but sin brought them into the world.  When sin entered the world everything changed.  God doesn't find delight in these events any more than we do.  He grieves along with us.  He longs for the day that all will be made right again.  He has us in His hands and He is giving mercy and love just as He always has.  God is there.  God rejoices with us and weeps with us.  God is with us in the joys and the sorrows.  God is offering His promises still to anyone who is willing to accept them; His promises of salvation, reward, and yes – even His promise that He will use all things for the good of those that love Him.

Be careful not to mistake destiny for mere chance.  “All things work together for good,” does not mean that these “things” will simply work themselves out by some power of chance.  This is meaning that God will make all things work together for good.

Also, don’t mistake the ultimate outcome for the original circumstance.  God is working to bring about something that is good.  God isn’t just bringing good out of the “good” things but “all things.”  Paul wasn’t saying that “all things” are good.  The things I listed above are obviously not good things.  Paul is telling us that God promises to turn all things for the ultimate good for those who love Him.

Notice though that God does not put a time frame on this promise.  He does not say how he will work all things for good.  He does not say it will be good right now or that it will be good in a few weeks.  He does not say what kind of “good” this is.  I would say that each situation is indeed different and that God works in mysterious ways.  It isn’t always for us to know.  We may not know how, when, or even why but we can know for a certain fact that God WILL keep His promise.  We can also know that He will not do it on our time frame but His and when He does do it – it will be perfect.

Thank God for his promises!  Thank God for this promise!  I cannot begin to tell you the times that I have had to remind myself of this passage.  It isn’t always easy to do this.  It is so easy to get caught up in the noise of everything around us and because of that it becomes very easy to stop listening to God.  Many times we all need to just stop and listen to God.  Think about the situation and remember the promises that God has made us.

Now I want to take a different look at this.  I want to step away from the promise itself and instead focus on who the promise is made to.  Who did God promise that He would work all things for good? 

First of all, this promise wasn’t given to everyone.

All things do not work together for good for every person.  God does not say that He will turn all things around for good in everyone’s life.  This promise is given with two very important requirements.

1)      You must love God.

2)      You must be called according to His purpose.

So what Paul is telling us here is essentially, if you do not love God, this promise does not apply to you.  You could say that for someone who does not love God and hasn’t been called according to His purpose is foolish to be optimistic about the final outcome of a situation.  Those who do not love God should be very pessimistic because things are not going to work together for that person’s ultimate good.

This type of person is described to us in Romans 2:5, "Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." So basically, this person’s life and all that comes with it will ultimately turn to wrath, not good.  The things that this person does not thank God for by turning them into means of worship will one day be this person’s own condemnation.  The times of pain, sorrow, and gloom for this person without their trust in God will store wrath for the Day of Judgment.

We must remember that no matter how a person may appear in this life – rich, poor, happy, or sad – if this person does not have love for God and is not called according to His purpose, all things they experience will not lead to everlasting good, but instead to endless misery. 

Now that is a hard truth that you won’t hear very many people say.  Here it is again – "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27 a) and, “For those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28 a).

In contrast, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8) and therefore cannot claim the promise of Romans 8:28.

That honestly just isn’t what we as imperfect people like to hear.  We want to be told that this promise extends to us no matter what.  We would like to believe that no matter what, all of life’s horrible moments are being worked for our good and not for our condemnation.  So what must be true of our hearts for this to be true of us?  I am going to really focus on “love for God” now and plan on doing a more in depth follow up on being “called” by God later.  I can’t even begin to talk about love though without at least talking a little bit on the call of God on our lives.

What must we do?  First, Paul tells us that we must love God.  What does that mean?

Well, this isn’t talking about the ups and downs that we go through in our love for God.  This doesn’t mean that if you REALLY love God at the moment that something bad happens that it is going to work for your good and if you don’t love God enough that the ultimate outcome will be bad.  We know that this isn’t what God means by the clarification at the end of the verse: "those who are called according to [God’s] purpose."  This calling isn’t something that can be taken from us.  It isn’t something that happens over and over.  This is the calling that is the once and for all work of God that calls us from our fallen lives of sin and death into eternal life and saintliness.  It is what frees us from the dominion of Satan to our freedom in God and ultimately leads us from being enemies of God to loving God.

This calling that leads to faith and love is permanent for someone who is truly saved.  Love for God is the true mark or someone who has been saved – forever.  Now as I said before and is the case with every relationship, our love for God is going to have instances of greatness and instances of weakness, BUT for those that are called to the saving grace of Christ, love for God is what characterizes their very being.  It is the constant state of their hearts – no matter how weak or how strong. 

Take note that the promise that Paul records for us isn’t that all things work for good for Christians occasionally when their love for our Creator is at it’s strongest or that things won’t work for the good of Christians whose love for God is weak at the moment.  Paul is saying that for Christians - those who have been called by God and whose hearts have been brought from hostility to worshipful love for God - all things we encounter in life WILL work for good - not just some of the time - ALL THE TIME!

What is love for God and what is not?

If you ask someone, “Do you love God?”  They will most likely answer with a quick, “Yes.”  Especially for those of us who live in the Bible Belt regions.  But what does it really mean to love God?  How can you know if you really do?

Well, here are some things that love for God isn’t or at least the core of loving God is not these things.

Loving God does not mean that we are supplying him with anything that he needs.  The way we love one another is different than the way that we love God in this way because God doesn’t need anything from us.  He doesn’t need us to provide clothing, food, shelter, etc.  It all belongs to Him anyway so we really don’t have anything to offer him like this anyway.  We are reminded of this in Acts 17:25 when Paul said, "Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." God is fundamentally unlike us.  God is the single source of all things we can see and can not see.  God doesn’t have any needs.  God doesn’t need to be assisted or improved.  There are no imperfections to fix or shortages to provide.  We do not love God by furnishing his needs in any way because he doesn’t need anything. So, instead of providing him with something to show our love, the quintessence of our love for him must be in the experience of receiving.

Secondly, loving God is not simply a love for His gifts such as our forgiveness, pardon, rescue from eternal torment, promise of a pain-free eternal life, etc.  In our love for God we will treasure these gifts and be grateful for them, but we do not only love God for these gifts.  We love and treasure God himself for who He is, not what He gives us. God’s gifts are cherished, desired, and valued to the point that they lead us to God and show us the very nature of God which causes us to love Him all the more.  Our love for God should be the innermost focus of our affections to Him, not to our love of the things He gives us.

Lastly, love for God is not what we do for God or what we are lead to do by our love for Him. Your love for God may lead you to do many wonderful things for His kingdom.  You may be led to move far away to a foreign land to spread His message to many lost peoples and to discard anything that leads you from His path for you, but moving away to be a missionary and purging yourself from anything that is not of God is not the spirit of love.  This is an example of the potential fruit of the love that you have for God.  When Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments," (John 14:15) he did not mean that keeping His commandments meant you loved Him.  The Pharisees did all they could do to keep the Law but that did not mean that they had love for Jesus.  Jesus was telling us that our love for Him would lead us to keep the commandments that He gave to us.  Our love for Him would be our centralized focus in life and because of that we would do all we could to work for His kingdom.

If we love God we should show it in our lives by attempting to keep the commandments that He has given to us.  We will not always succeed but we should always love Him.

Our love for God is for God, not what he gives us and not what he has promised us.  Our love for Him should be the essence of our heart and involve our spirit.  If we attempt to love God by our deeds we will simply be going through the motions of love without true love.  We would be hypocritical with our hearts.  We would say we love God but our hearts would be self-serving.  We would “love” God because we have been forgiven and won’t have to go to hell but we would not have love for God himself.  We would not love God.  We would love what he did for us and what he gives to us.

Don’t get me wrong – I love God for saving me, for his physical and spiritual blessings on my life, and for all that he has promised me, BUT we should love God even without any of these things.  He is our creator.  He is the Great I Am.  He is the one who loved us even when our spirits hated Him.  We do not love God as a “reward” to Him for being awesomely good to us!  We do not look at Romans 8:28 and say I will love God when He makes things good for me.  Romans 8:28 only applies to you if you love God.  We should love God because He is God.  Everything that comes from that love is a generous gift to us from God.  Don’t get the two confused!  God owes us nothing and we owe Him everything.

So how do we love God?

Trying to describe this is near impossible.  What words could be used to even begin to talk about the essence of the love of God.  To love God is to long for God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to cherish God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to appreciate God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to be fulfilled in God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to treasure God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to delight in God himself beyond His blessings.  To love God is to have reverence for God and to value God and worship God and praise God beyond His blessings.  None of these words even begin to describe our heart’s response to the glory of God when it is revealed to us.

We must see past the promise to God himself.  Look at creation around us and just be amazed.  Creation declares all around us the glory of God.  Look at all that God has done throughout the history of this planet to reveal His love, mercy, grace, and perfect plan.  Look to Jesus Christ and all that He was from the beginning of time well before He came to this Earth as a little baby - The sacrifice He made just by leaving his throne of glory and then how he lived his life as a servant to all and the suffering he endured.  See the compassion and righteousness fused with the wrath of God that was placed on the King of Kings who hung on the cross for all of us unworthy sinners.  See the ultimate supremacy and display of the highest glory in the resurrection of Jesus on the third day.  See how fully the Law of Moses was satisfied and the new covenant that welcomed in the age of grace to the all of humanity.

Look to the past, to today, and to the future and see God in all of these ways.  Remember that you were made for God and in his image.  Realize the completion of all of your desires.  See the most astonishing, fulfilling treasure in all the cosmos in Jesus Christ.  When you realize the magnificence of God’s glory, and when you cherish him with all your being, then the promise of Romans 8:28 is yours.  God will work all things together for your ultimate good.  He will do this because you love him and He loves you.

Join me as I pray another one of God’s promises this year – Deuteronomy 30:6 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

I want to love God with all of my being.  I want my love for God to be my drive, determining factor, and goals.  I want to see Him for all that He is.

Turn this verse into a prayer for yourself, your family, and your neighbors.  Our families, communities, states, countries, and world need to turn to God with love for Him.  We are in very unsettling times and we all should look to God and remember his many promises.  Remember all of his promises including Romans 8:28, Deuteronomy 30:6, and 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Mark 28b-31

“Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jan, 2, 2011 - Gen.3-5 ; Luke 2

Genesis 3:1 (NIV)
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

The serpent that Genesis is referring to is most certainly Satan. Although Genesis never says that this serpent is anything other than a serpent, we must look at the Bible as a whole. Revelations 12:9 tells us, ‘9And the great dragon was thrown down, the SERPENT OF OLD who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ Satan is the craftiest of all the creatures God has made. But the Scriptures tell us in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11, ‘If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if there was anything to forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.’ We are not ignorant of his devices. Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan lies to us in more ways than we can imagine. He lied to Eve to deceive her in the very beginning and he hasn’t stopped lying yet. But there is coming a day when Satan will have to stop his lies (Revelation 20:10) ‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’

Satan challenges the authority of God. We can see him challenging what God said right in Genesis. "Did God really say...?" as if Eve may have misunderstood God. If God said it, He said it. There isn’t anyway around that. God’s word is perfect as is the One who spoke it. Many times Christians will find themselves examining the words to twist them into what they want them to say. When you start doing that you are headed in the Devil’s direction. We should examine God’s word for what it actually says. Not what some preacher on TV or at church said it said and not what your parents said it said, but what GOD said! Once we have found what the word of God said we should accept it and not try to mess with it to satisfy our own desires.

Satan is the ultimate example of pessimism. The Devil always sees the glass half-empty. Here Adam and Eve were in a garden in which every this was fully supplied. If there were ever any humans that had every single need met it was Adam and Eve. The Wicked One always reminds us of something that our worldly flesh does not have but let me remind you Child of God, in Christ Jesus we lack nothing that is good. If we don't have it, you don't need it, or God you will receive it in His perfect time. Satan's portrayal of who God is, is constantly contradictory of who He actually is. Satan tries to make God a miserable, egotistical, trying taskmaster when in actuality He is the opposite of each and every one of those things. Do you want to know what Satan’s goal is? He wants to make us believe that God is like him. Our God is perfect and good and nothing about Satan even begins to claim those words. Rebellion of authority, misrepresentation of His Word, and discontentment with God's nature and condition in your time on this Earth are Satan's primary lines of assault. Don’t fall for these lies! Remember that in Christ you have all good possessions.

Genesis 3:6 (NIV)
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

(1 John 2:15-17) ‘15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.’ Here we see that the world consists of the lust of the eyes, the desire of the flesh, and the satisfaction of living. As soon as Satan had gotten Eve to question God she looked at the fruit. We, all of the Child of God, are to walk by faith and not by sight. Christians are called to see everything in the eternal perspective. Often times we do not think about the consequences of our actions. For every action there is a consequence, good or bad. We should see the world with spiritual eyes and not be mislead by what we see in this world. Keeping your eyes on Jesus is the only way to do this. When Eve lost sight of the Eternal and looked at the physical she thought, “That fruit looks like it would be good!” Was it good? As good as death! Eve allowed her thoughts, feelings, and human desire to deceive her instead of believing what God had said.

This should be a lesson to us. Things of the world never really satisfy! We often believe the lie that something of this world (money, drugs, food, or sex) can fill the void that is within us. So we strive to get these things and what do we find? We find that we are even emptier than before. Sure there may be some kind of instant gratification but it fades and we are right back were we started. Soon we find that we need more and more of whatever it is to help us feel any better. You know where this path will lead? A very empty life with a very empty death. That void within you and me can only be filled by the everlasting, undying, perpetual, immeasurable God.

There was an once of truth to Satan’s lie that the fruit would make her wise. She would soon know what it was like to go against God, to experience sorrow, to be estranged from His presence, to dread His justice righteousness.

The desires mentioned in 1 John 2 are still in the world today. They are a part of the world. But do not forget 1 John 2:17, ‘The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.’ Lord, help us to see that happiness is only found in You alone.

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Here God tells us that he will deal with sin. This is the first place in His Word that he tells us this. God tells us of the effect of sin in Genesis but He also gives us hope with a promise and He gives Satan a warning. He tells Satan that there will be hatred between himself and man and that the seed of the women would be in conflict with the offspring of Satan. Satan is out to murder, steal, and annihilate everything that God is. John 10:10 gives those who believe this promise, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ Not abundantly in the temporal world necessarily but in the Kingdom of God.

God quickly gave mankind hope in their faith. Everyone who lived before Christ looked forward to their Victor of the evil one in faith just as we look back to the same Victor who did come and die for our sins with our own faith. Jesus was the one who crushed Satan’s head. Jesus gave us a way of breaking free of Satan’s authority in our lives, the authority we gave him in our sin. Satan attempted to sink his teeth into our Redeemer many times, but his failure ended in his defeat and our deliverance/salvation. Do we live in the freedom that Christ gave us when he defeated Satan? Do we live in the power of the risen Victor? Help us lord to trust in the freedom that you have so gratuitously give us.

Genesis 4:7 (NIV)
7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

This bit of scripture with Cain and Able has always interested me. I have always wondered why God was not pleased with Cain’s offering. God was pleased with the lamb that Abel offered but not Cain’s grain. Why? Well we really do not know for sure. The only thing that I have been able to come up with is that Cain’s heart wasn’t in the right place. God looks at our hearts to know if what we are doing is with good intentions. Cain must have been extremely jealous of his brother to murder him. I would be willing to bet that there were many other things about Able that Cain was jealous of. The girt of grain in itself was not the issue because we know that later on God accepted grain offerings from the Israelites. The offering here was a representation of Cain’s heart. Cain for what ever reason did not do what was right with his heart. Because of this his offering was not accepted.

Once sin enters our lives it just leads to more sin. God warned Cain of this. Satan’s goal is for us to allow sin to overcome our lives. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, ‘Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.’ Satan longs to devour our lives. Satan wants us to allow sin to dominate us, to rule over us, and ultimately bring our destruction. God told Cain the only way to defeat this is to master it. Don't let sin master you.

So I ask, is there sin waiting at the door waiting to dominate my life or your life? We should MASTER IT! We master sin by looking to our Savior. Jesus’ resurrected life gives us the power to master sin instead of allowing it to devour our life.

If we are caught in what may seem like a never ending cycle of sin, we can defeat our enemy by the power of the risen King, the same King that crushed the rule of the Devil himself.






Luke 2:8-10 (NIV)
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Doesn’t it seem appropriate that God sent this message to these shepherds? This is the style of God in full view. Shepherds had fallen to near the bottom of the social ladder in the thousand years between King David and Jesus. This to me is a sign of how true this story must have been. Why would Luke chose such unreliable people to write about if he was just making the whole thing up. If this was a hoax Luke would have chosen someone with a higher social standing than a shepherd for the angels to have announces this news to. But God in his infinite wisdom choice shepherds to hear this great news first.

Mary declared that God lifted up the humble. He fills the hungry full and the needy with good things but those who are “rich” go away empty. The first people other than His parents to see Jesus were these humble shepherds. And why wouldn’t they be? Jesus himself was born in one of the most humble places I can think of. The Word of God is not for people who are full but instead for those who are hungry.

The angels' announcement was good news for ALL people. This was not just for the Jews or only for the poor. This news was for all who hungered, all who were seeking, and all who would receive it! I can not think of any greater joy than knowing that God loved you and me so much that He sent His only Son to make a way for us to come to Him. (John 3:16) ‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.’ This is still great news for us today. This should be the greatest joy for ALL people! Have you found this great joy in your life? If not you are missing out on what God intended for you from the beginning of time.

Luke 2:29-32 (NIV)
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

The last plague of Egypt was the killing of the firstborn. God delivered Israel from the last plague by having them put the blood of the lambs on the doorposts. Ever since then God had claimed the right to every firstborn male. The parents had to buy back the child with an offering. Joseph and Mary had gone to the temple to make this offering to God. Upon arrival at the temple, a man named Simeon welcomed them. He was not a ritualistic religious leader like many of the others of his day. He communicated with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit told him that he would not die until he saw the Messiah, the Anointed One, that would save his people.

As soon as Simeon saw the baby he knew in his heart that this baby was the One. Once he had seen Jesus he was ready to die. He had seen the salvation that God prepared for everyone right before his very eyes. This baby was the one that would fulfill all of the prophesies and would bring hope and light to all of the people.

Simeon waited his whole life for the arrival of our Father’s salvation, Jesus. Once he had seen Him he was content. Why should we be any different? We know that he has come and died for our sins and rose again. Just knowing that God has granted us a way to come to him with boldness, that He loved us so much that He sent His only son should be enough for us. Everything about Simeon longed for the instant of Christ’s arrival. Today we should also long, with equal passion, for His return.


Luke 2:48-49, 52 (NIV)
48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." 49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

It was the custom of that day that a man was a disciple of an instructor until they were thirty. Jesus had to grow and learn just as we do today. Hebrews 5:8 tells us that, ‘Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.’ Luke 2:52 tells us He also grew in wisdom. Jesus as a human experienced learning and growing just as we do today but at the same time had the wisdom of God. Young Jesus' mind was completely surrendered to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I am sure that the Rabbis at this temple were wondering which Rabbi had been teaching Jesus as he asked them questions and even answered theirs. Jesus listened to the ultimate teacher, The Rabbi, the Holy Spirit.

When his parents had found him in the temple and took him to go back home, the Bible tells us that he submitted Himself to them as an obedient child until His ministry began. His being, which was full with love, happiness, tranquility and fortitude, increase his favor with God and mankind. Jesus good-naturedly learned and anticipated the call for His task to commence. Sometimes we forget that the tree doesn’t immediately produce fruit and become discouraged. We must remember that we have to learn before we can truly start trying to produce fruit. Just as a tree, we Christians have to be planted, fertilized, pruned, watered, and nurtured before we can bare fruit. Some of this learning may be difficult just as it was for Jesus who learned from His suffering. Lord, I pray that You would help me to grow in wisdom and knowledge, learning through the good times and the bad that I may be an instrument of Your will and produce good fruit for Your everlasting Kingdom.

Jan. 1, 2011 - Gen. 1-2 ; Luke 1

Genesis 1:1
(NIV) 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning God... The Bible starts us off with these four words. From the beginning it says that God is. That God created everything! There isn’t any beating around the bush. The Bible tells that there is a God and that He was here in the beginning (actually before there was even a beginning). The Bible says that anyone that says that God doesn’t exist is foolish (Psalms 14:1). The Bible tells us of God’s relation to his creation and to man. He created space and matter. God created you, me, and everything that we see and don’t see. If I call myself a Christian (and I do) then I am saying that I believe the word of God to be true. So if the word of God is true as I believe it to be, then that means that I should recognize the very fact that He alone is responsible for all things should cause me to see that I owe my very existence to Him. When I read this I thought to myself, “Do I live in the recognition that “In the beginning God…?” Do I live my life with the understanding that the One who occupied eternity before space or time were even spoken into existence created this world as a place for us to live. God didn’t need to make it or even us but he wanted to. God wanted to have a relationship with man from the very beginning. God knows you and God knows me. God still longs for us to know Him. The Earth and all of the things in it are presents from the caring, affectionate hands of our Creator.

Genesis 1:2 (NIV)
2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

God takes things from disorder to order and He does so in our lives too, as long as we will let Him. The word says that God hovered over the waters as he prepared to shape and form the Earth. This reminds me of how the Holy Spirit hovers over those who have tasted the “water” and will never “thirst” again today as He molds us and shapes us. The world was dark and shapeless just as my life would be without Jesus. Jesus is the light that covers and protects us from the “darkness” where the predator attacks.

Genesis 1:3-4 (NIV)
3And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

John 1 tells us that Jesus was the Light that lights every man that comes into the world. He shines into the darkness and the shadows do not comprehend. Do we realize that the Light is still shining upon us today? God took this formless matter and created beauty that we see around us today. Doesn’t it make sense that if God could shape all of this that He could shape us today? What would our lives be like if we were in complete surrender to Christ and the promptings of the Spirit? God is the light of the world and we are “children of light.” By surrendering our lives to Christ we can allow Him to form us into who we are supposed to be. Ephesians 5:8 tells us, ‘for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.’ We may be in this world but we are not of it! When we are filled with the Light we (through Christ) cause the darkness to flee. ‘Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:21).

Genesis 1:31 (NIV)
31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the sixth day.

Everything that God made was good. ‘You are good, and what you do is good’ (Psalms 119:68). He placed man into a perfect environment. It was evil that smashed this ultimate setting. We should recognize that good (light) comes from God and the evil (darkness) is the result of turning from him. If you block the light you create darkness. We do this to ourselves more times than not. God’s plans and intentions for us are GOOD! If we believe that God is good and that he truly loves us we should strive to walk in His light in the plans that he has for us. Ephesians 2:10, 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.’ Oh God, please help me to see your grace, love, and goodness in everything that you have brought, are bringing, and will bring into my life.

Genesis 2:18 (NIV)
18The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Man was not meant to be alone. God created Eve to be a helper to Adam. A helper is a team member. Man and women are to work together to accomplish things together. We need each other and are not complete without one another. This is just like Christ in the church. We were made new beings from the blood that Jesus shed from his side on the cross just as Eve was made from Adam in the beginning. The Church should be His teammate. We are called to be co-laborers in Christ Jesus. God could do all things by himself but He wants us to be included. We benefit from being a helper in Christ. It is not good for us to be alone. We are to labor with Him for His glory.

Genesis 2:24 (NIV)
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Everything should be put aside for our Creator. We should be willing to leave all things just as a man leaves his parents for his wife. We, the church, are Christ’s bride and we should be joined with Him so that all other things are distant. Please God help me to be the instrument of Your glory that You intended me to be as I surrender to the Spirit so that Christ can live His life in and through me.

Luke 1:13-15 (NIV)
13But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth .”

Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were not your spring chickens. They were well advanced in years and had prayed and prayed for a child. When the angel came to Zechariah to tell him that his wife would have a child (that his prayer was answered) he doubted him. Many times we pray to the Lord, and when some answers are delayed (or never even happen) we lose faith. Sure, we may still pray, but we don't imagine it is even feasible. We seem to forget that with God, all things are possible. We should never give up hope, but instead pray with anticipation. We should also remember that God’s will is perfect and holy beyond anything that we can comprehend. Some of our wants may not be part of His will. That is why we should seek His will daily in our lives and allow that to be our want. It seems to me that John's birth was all the more blissful because it came at a time when they believed it was not possible.

Luke 1:34-35, 38 (NIV)
4"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon 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.
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Wouldn’t it have been exciting for Gabriel to be the one to deliver this news! That the Messiah was going to be born. God chose Mary because she was a servant of God. Mary showed this when she said, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Mary knew what she would face when the people of that day found out she was pregnant and unfaithful to her fiancé. She would be ridiculed and potentially even killed but still she said, "I am the Lord's servant." We shouldn’t care what people will think of us when it comes to God’s will for our lives. We should not worry how we will come out at the end. It is God’s to determine what part I am to play in His kingdom. I pray that I can be more surrendered to Christ ever day.

Luke 1:46-49 (NIV)
46And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me– holy is his name.

In Mary’s womb, tiny hands were shaping. The same hands that had designed Mary and the entire universe where now forming inside of her. Those hands had set the Earth in orbit and placed the stars in the night’s sky. This was the miracle of all miracles. It was the utmost expression of love ever. It would conclude with the cross and at last the resurrection. In some ways, the baby Jesus growing in Mary's womb is similar to Christ still being fashioned in us. As time goes by, we should show more and more of Christ through our lives. This humble unfamiliar woman from Nazareth gave birth to the Messiah, Jesus. God lifts up the humble. God help me to be more humble and recognize how truly great you are!