Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
Luke 1:68
How we spend our time has a direct impact on our relationship with God. Today, as we begin our focus on the advent of Christ, let’s pause and consider how we spend our time. Specifically, how much time does God factor into our day? Does He encompass all areas of our lives or only those times set apart for reading His Word or praying? Or, perhaps He’s relegated to Sunday mornings only?
Check out this suggestion from today’s LGG Journal entry on the how and why of alone time with God: “If we want to meet with God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, it is vital that we spend time in prayer and meditate on God’s Words. We are surrounded by so much noise that it often takes great discipline and a firm resolve to switch off the TV, put away our phones, go into our room, close the door and – in the stillness – spend time alone with God.”
When Zechariah learned that Elizabeth was pregnant, the reality of Gabriel’s words would have erased even a smidgen of doubt that may have remained in Zechariah’s mind. From his response of obedience and rejoicing following the birth, it seems evident that he had not turned away from God but had drawn all the closer to Him. Zechariah clearly believed all that the angel had said, and he set an example of a life that includes God in all areas. We see this when the baby was born; Zechariah not only celebrated the birth of his son but also, after nine months of silence, his first words were used to bless God and then to speak of the evidence of the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.
Friends, may we practice factoring the Messiah into the whole of our lives. Whether we are on the mountaintop or in the valleys of suffering or troubles, in our times of silence, concerns, or doubts, may we not turn away from Him but draw all the closer to Him – so that at the end of every day, whether we find ourselves celebrating or lamenting, we are found praising God and looking forward with hope.
Over the past decade, Ann Voskamp has been a tool in God’s hands, by which He has reshaped my life, so it should come as no surprise that I am sharing one of her blogs with you while we traipse through some side trails as we await our next journey. The timing is perfect because it focuses on gratitude. However, the content is helpful to our walk of faith and, therefore, perfect for any time of the year. I pray it is a blessing.
My therapist says it steady, his eyes searching mine, reading my face.
And I turn away, as if not looking into his eyes but out the window, I can turn back all this startling wave of drowning ache.
“I’m kinda worried about you, Annie,” a friend comes looking for me after that therapy session. “You… okay?”
“Yes, of course, I am… and no, I’m not… and yes, I am. You know… ” I smile weakly, bravely, through everything brimming.
Every single one of us is walking through some kind of deep heartbreak, and real life strain, and if you look into people’s eyes, and ask the right tender question, there it is: a fracture of pain right up the side of their one life. Bruised relationships, and draining bank accounts, and weary dreams, and sheer mountains ahead of us, and who isn’t a bit tired of the fight called life?
This world is a broken-heart factory, and it’s full of His glory, and it’s only holding both of those, that you let go and find joy.
Ann Voskamp/Blog/When It’s Kinda Hard to Give Thanks
*Note:This is a bittersweet glimpse into her life and a glimpse of just some of the trauma and heartache she has known. If you’re not familiar with Ann and her writings, I encourage you to check out some of her blogs or pick up a copy of her book, One Thousand Gifts.
I’m sharing this verse of the day commentary borrowed from YouVersion, one of my favorite Bible apps. The app has Bible reading plans, easy to use verse look-up, and even images you can add verses to and then share with others. There’s so much more like prayer options and videos. If you don’t have the app yet be sure to give it a try. It’s also a great way to keep the Bible with you everywhere you go. Oh, and if you do check it out – or if you already have it, be sure and find the friend tab and add me. 💕
The Sea of Galilee in Israel is known for violent, sudden storms. Strong winds can create huge waves that threaten seafarers, like we see in the book of Mark.
The night the disciples and Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, a storm set in. Violent. Sudden. Terrifying. And while the disciples frantically worked to keep the vessel afloat, there was Jesus, asleep in the boat. The disciples woke him and asked: “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38 NIV)
That question might read a little differently for you today:
“Jesus, do you not care that my health is falling apart?”
“Jesus, do you not care that my finances are draining out?”
“Jesus, do you not care that my relationship is in tatters?”
But there is more to the story.
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Mark 4:39 NIV
Jesus didn’t join them in their fear. Instead, He looked right at the storm and brought calm. Then, He asked His disciples why they were so afraid: “Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).
Have you ever faced a challenge so massive, it threatened to overwhelm you? It can be disorienting, terrifying, heartbreaking, even, when the storm sets in and everything suddenly feels bleak in the face of such a strong force against us.
But God went with the disciples because He cared about them. He goes with you because He cares about you.
What storm are you facing today? Take a moment to close your eyes and imagine Jesus, unafraid of the storm, bringing everything to a calm. He is with you. You are not alone in this storm.
Sometimes, I hesitate to use or write about this verse, which has been a crutch and saving grace for almost fifty years of my life. I’ve shared it often as a testimony of how I came to know it when I was in my teens and the many ways He has used it in my life since that day in the little farmhouse in Texas. Yet, really, can God’s Word ever be shared too much? I don’t think so … plus it is the verse that came to mind when I watched the video that I am sharing with you today.
The video is a beautiful reminder of what a difference it makes to give all of our worries and cares to God. I have seen it time and time again in my own life. I’ve seen what happens when I try to handle the worries and cares on my own and what happens when I lay them at His feet or raise my hands in urgency and sometimes tears – saying, “Here, God – please take ‘this’ I can’t carry ‘it’ alone.” I’ve given Him everything from a daughter’s cancer to my sore knees. Yep, He even cares about sore knees and parking places – well, the truth of the matter is He cares for us, so if our concern is a parking place, then He has invited us to give that concern to Him. Before you laugh too hard or perhaps scoff at giving such a seemingly trivial concern to such a great and mighty God – let me share this brief story/example.
I have bad knees, and for the past year, I have been getting injections to help manage the pain. The doctor I see is in a building with limited “close” parking. There is plenty of parking, but you may have to walk a city block or two—or more, depending on the day and time. I learned very quickly to make it my mission to give God the concern – both for a parking place and/or strength to walk as far as I had to. Time after time, I saw a place open right as I pulled in or when I circled for the third time. There have also been days when I found nothing close and ended up in the three-story garage. Disappointed, yes? But not for long, because in spite of the pain, every time I had to walk further than was comfortable, I knew His strength or saw the greater need for another, whom He allowed me to encourage or the one I was able to share Him with along the pain-filled walk.
You see, it wasn’t that I prayed for a parking place; it was that I prayed. I talked to the One who cares for me and placed my care/needs in His hands and then watched to see what He was going to do.
Today’s pathway takes us to Psalm 100 and comes through a sermon my Pastor preached this past Sunday. The sermon features teaching on “how to give thanks” and how thanksgiving can turn into worship. May our hearts be moved to give thanks to the Lord daily and to take up the challenge Pastor Lemming shares at the end of the sermon to read Psalm 100 every day through Thanksgiving Day.
Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Worship the Lord with joy. Enter his presence with joyful singing. 3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give him thanks. Praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
After reading my morning verse recently, I found myself journaling these words: “Father, You are good. How long ago did You show me this verse? How many years since I sat at my kitchen table reading and rereading it and the verses that followed? How many times and ways since then have you shown me the truth of those verses?”
Sometime in the early nineties, I sat at the table of our newly built home, enjoying the quiet moments of my baby’s nap time. Sometimes, when she slept, I would rest or clean, but most often, I would spend some alone time with God in His Word. As a newly “revived” believer, I was hungry for the Word and eager to build/rebuild a relationship with God.
Today’s verse brought that table and time to mind, as it was there that I first remember beginning to study Philippians 4:4-7, specifically – Paul’s words, “Rejoice in the Lord always. (I will say it again: Rejoice!) 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7Andthe peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – note: while verse eight wasn’t included in my early study, it soon followed and has rescued me from more than one battle.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8
God seemed to embed those words in my mind that day. Through the three decades that have followed, He has continued to faithfully ingrain them and use the words to help me through many turbulent days/years of this life/world. These words … have taught me to fix my eyes on God and His will … to ‘rejoice’ even when the days are hard, sad, or downright scary. The words helped me develop a relationship with God, teaching me to spend time in prayer, talking to God, not just at Him. From there, I began learning to trust Him, to fix my thoughts on Him, and to experience the promised peace.
To this day, these words of Paul remind me that God is near, that His return is imminent, and that in and with God, I can have, know, and be filled with peace even in the tumultuous storms of this life! God’s peace is truly a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace that gives strength and hope in both the good and challenging seasons; this strength and hope have led me to “re-joy-cing” in God for more than thirty years of my life.
As I read the words again this morning, they were not new to me but they caused my mind to stop and remember God’s goodness so many years ago and every day since to change my life from the inside-out!
“Joy is the flag flying high above the castle of the hear, announcing that the King is in residence there.”
~Unknown
Loving Heavenly Father, my strength and hope are from You and through Christ in me. Your grace and power fill me with the confident JOY to keep going when hope seems far away and sorrows weigh me down. When I am weak, You are strong! So in my sorrow for this world and despite my concerns – please continue to help me KEEP my eyes and thoughts fixed on You – and let the flag of JOY fly high above the castle of my heart – where You rule and reign – announcing to all that You – my God and King – are in residence here!💜 – And to borrow from today’s devotion from “Our Daily Verse,” “May my life be a testament to the unshakable joy found in a relationship with You. Let this joy be my strength, a light to others, and a reflection of Your constant grace in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Observations and Applications
Much like the confession of the Israelites that we read in our previous day’s journey, what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter two reminds us that, like Israel, the Ephesians and believers throughout the ages—including us—have sinned against God. Paul’s list is explicit – and points to the beautiful truth that God’s grace is greater than all our sin.
We weredead in our sins. (1)
We wereunder Satan’s rule. (2-3)
BUT GOD… being rich in mercy, love, and grace...(4-5)
raised us up to demonstrate the boundless and free measure of grace in Christ (6-7)
By this grace, we are saved (through faith), which is a gift of God (8)
It is a free gift, not related to or requiring any work so that no one can boast (9)
We are God’s creation – created with a purpose – in Christ – to do good works, which God prepared for us to do (10)
Take hope in these words from the LGG Journal entry today:
In our study of the book of Daniel, we first saw that God fulfilled His words to remove the people of Judah from their land if they didn’t return to Him. The people had become prideful and were convinced that God would never remove them from Jerusalem. Yet, what they had not thought possible became true.
The people of Judah were taken to Babylon, a place famous for evil and sin. The 70 years of exile were tough for the people of God. Yet, while God humbled them, he also transformed and restored them.
As God provided for the people of Judah, He has provided in incredible ways for believers. God has given us the gift of faith. We can’t boast as we didn’t earn it and don’t deserve it. There is no place for pride. God has a plan and a purpose for our lives; therefore, we should listen and obey Him.
You can be sure that you are exactly where God wants you to be. Even if, like Daniel, you may be somewhere you wouldn’t have chosen to be, know that God is at work. He is interested in your character and how you choose to live in all circumstances.
Ask God to lead you to the good works He has planned for you. Look for the new opportunities God is now leading you into.
God is at work. His plans and purposes will be fulfilled throughout every season of your life. He can be trusted with your today, your tomorrow, and your eternal home. You are saved by His wonderful grace! Your future is sure. So go and live transformed by God’s amazing love, which saves even people like us!
Prayer of Response to the Journey
Father, thank You for saving us by Your grace and not according to our works. You have created us on purpose and for a purpose; help us fulfill that purpose to Your glory. Thank You to Your Spirit, who empowers us to do the good works that we were created to do. Thank You that we are no longer under Satan’s authority, no longer dead in our sins – and that we never have to worry about losing our salvation! What a joy to know that it is a free gift from You that no one can take away! Rejoicing in the power and depth of Your grace – in Jesus’ name and Your glory!💜
based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithfully in a Faithless Land / w6d4
Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Nehemiah 9:32-28
“So now, our God—the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity—do not regard as inconsequential all the hardship that has befallen us—our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people—from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day.
Nehemiah 9:32-38
Friends, I invite you to read beyond the prescribed passage for today, and by reading beyond, I mean reading what came before in this chapter of Nehemiah. While there is much to be seen in verses 32-38, those words come alive with a richer beauty and meaning when read with verse 1-31. The words that come before verse 32 actually give a wealth of understanding to our passage. They help us to see the visible truth of God’s unfailing love and infinite grace and mercy. The verses also help us to understand that our suffering has a purpose … It gives a beautiful picture and example of what true confession looks like – how it begins with acknowledging God is right and proceeds to confessing that we are wrong … It’s a wonderful reminder of how far away from God we can be even when things are going well …
Today’s Love God Greatly Journal entry is a perfect addition to our passage, as it breaks down the return of Ezra, Zechariah, and Nehemiah and the work God did through them, as well as how He transformed the people’s hearts, which led to “an increased faithfulness in God’s people at this time.” It has been an inspiration to me, and I hope it will be one for you as well.
“You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. It is we who have been in the wrong!”
INTO THE TEXT (borrowed and shared from Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / p186
God was faithful. After 70 years in exile were complete, God’s people were restored to the land. Things weren’t exactly as they had been before. They didn’t have their own king. But God allowed them to live in the land, rebuild Jerusalem, and have everything they needed to resettle back in Judah.
Ezra led the first set of people back to Judah. They were relatively small in number, and the task they had seemed overwhelming to rebuild Jerusalem, the city walls, their homes, and the temple. But God continued again and again to faithfully provide for His people.
Zechariah had also returned to Jerusalem in one of the first groups. God gave him an important message for His people worried about the task ahead. The task would not be accomplished by their power, nor might, but by the Spirit of the Lord (See Zechariah 4:6-7)!
Nehemiah came back from Babylon in a later group, about 13 years after Ezra had arrived. He helped to encourage and reignite the rebuilding of Jerusalem, particularly the temple and walls. The work on these structures had stalled due to constant opposition by their enemies and the resulting weariness of his people.
What about the people’s hearts? Has God transformed them? The people were ready to obey the Lord. They even wanted to sign a covenant! While they would be tempted and fall into sin again, we saw an increased faithfulness in the attitude of God’s people at this time.
God is still transforming hearts from death to life and has been doing so especially since Jesus returned to heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit.
God is the great promise keeper. We can be sure any promises He has made will happen. But He doesn’t always fulfill His promises in the way we might expect or want Him to. We can trust His ways are best. He is righteous and acts faithfully in all He does. His love drives all that He does, which provides us with grace after grace.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, you are righteous and faithful in all you do. Often when I have questioned your faithfulness, it is because you didn’t do what I wanted. O Lord, forgive me. I pray – not my will but yours be done.I thank you that I can trust and rely on your Word. Amen.
The More We Know
You can purchase the LGG Journals at lovegodgreatly.com; they are a great addition to our studies.
For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah 29:11 is used to congratulate graduates, comfort those whose lives aren’t going the way they hoped, or encourage those who are facing some of life’s big decisions – but it is important to keep in mind that the verse was initially given to God’s people whose world had just been turned upside down. By God’s own hand, they were living as exiles in Babylon, which I can only imagine seemed like the furthest thing from hope and a future of any kind, but that is precisely the message God sent through Jeremiah, one of “hope and a future” and the reminder that God did not plan to harm them. He wanted them to remember “whose” they were and that He was in control, even when it didn’t seem like it.
It may not have seemed to the Israelites that God even remembered them, but He did, and as today’s journal entry points out, “God was working out His plan of salvation amongst all people, in all places, throughout all time. It wasn’t just for those in exile. God was at work to restore and rebuild what was broken when sin entered this world. From the returned exiles, a descendant would come who would be the Savior of the world!”
As we have seen throughout our journey, the faithless Kings and people of Babylon saw evidence of Israel’s true and living God—who protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace and shut the lions’ mouths to protect Daniel. When Israel’s restoration comes, it will be for all nations to know that He is the Sovereign LORD.
We may not always get what we want, and our plans may not work out the way we envisioned, but this promise of hope and a future is for us as well. Today’s journal entry says it best: “God’s plans involve you! His plans are to use you to encourage other believers and be a light to those who don’t yet know Him. You are the carrier of His hope to the world around you, which is often so hopeless.”
Prayer of Response to the Journey
Heavenly Father, you bring hope to me and this whole world. Help me to trust you, Lord, when my days are in turmoil, and I cannot understand. May I know you as the author and perfecter of my faith. Use me to bring You hope to someone in this hopeless world. – Amen
borrowed from Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, p189
Encouragement for the journey –
Friends, this group is not a place for political conversations, but it is a place for encouragement and hope between sisters and brothers in Christ – which is why I am sharing this verse and the story behind it … The day before the election, when my anxiety started rising again, God reminded me of this verse which we recently read in our Daniel study,
“…the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever HE chooses.” — Daniel 5:21
Regardless of how we voted or the outcome of the votes, we all need to remember that our God, the true and living God, is in perfect control! He rules and reigns over Kings and dominions. He is sovereign over all.
The More We Know
For More Insight, be sure to check out today’s LGG Blog
I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations. Ezekiel 36:26-27
Observations and Applications
Sometimes, God’s Word leaves us wondering why certain things happen, or – as we have seen in the book of Daniel – there are visions recorded that we can’t quite understand because some things are meant to stay hidden from us. As we see in the journal page below, this is not the case with today’s passage and the unfolding events in the life of Israel, the people of God. Clearly, God was very open with what was going to happen and why –
– God was very open with what was going to happen and why –
Through Ezekiel, God makes it crystal clear to the people that His anger had been poured out on them because they had defiled their land with their “evil way of living.” It was detestable to Him, and because of this, God scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they chose to live. One would think this would have awakened them and caused them to change their lifestyles, yet, from there, it seems to have escalated, as even in the faithless lands where they were exiled, they brought shame to God’s name – to the point that He was concerned about His reputation.
God uses Israel to reveal Himself to the nations – and the same is true of believers in Christ today. God not only uses us but He has called us to be His light to the world. 🦋
The people had failed God, falling short of His glory despite the teachings they were to remember and obey, as well as the warnings God sent them along the way. So, “for the sake of His holy reputation,” God moved to magnify His great name by restoring Israel and making the nations know that He was the LORD. However, we must not miss this vital truth: God did not restore Israel for their sake but for His own. He uses Israel to reveal Himself to the nations – and the same is true of believers in Christ today. God not only uses us to make Him known but He has called us to be His light to the world.
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:14-16
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God created man and that He created him for His glory. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of man, according to the Bible, is simply to glorify God. – Gotquestions.org
One of the ways we glorify God is by walking faithfully in a relationship with Him. Apart from God, it is impossible to glorify His name. As we saw with the Israelites, sin separates us from God (Isa 29:2), not only hindering His glory through us but jeopardizing His reputation. Be encouraged by these words from gotquestions.org: while “sin separates us from God and makes it impossible to glorify Him on our own. – through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, our relationship with God is reconciled—our sin is forgiven and no longer creates a barrier between God and us (Romans 3:23–24).”
Since God created man in His image (Genesis 1:26–27), man’s purpose cannot be fulfilled apart from Him. King Solomon tried living for his own pleasure, yet at the end of his life he concluded that the only worthwhile life is one of honor and obedience to God (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14).
Gotquestions.org
Prayer Response to the Journey
Father, thank You for the reminder that this life You have given us and all that You do in and through us, and the callings You have placed on our lives are not about us – but are meant to be all for Your glory. Help us never to bring shame to Your reputation but to live as lights in this dark world— Let us heed the words of Jesus and not let our light be hidden. Help us to walk with You and talk with You and to live and speak in such a way that radiates Your love and grace to the world around us so that everyone will give You the praise and the honor due Your holy name. – In the name of Jesus – Amen.
The More We Know
Why did our journey lead us to Ezekiel? (borrowed and shared from got questions.org)
Ezekiel ministered to his generation who were both exceedingly sinful and thoroughly hopeless. By means of his prophetic ministry he attempted to bring them to immediate repentance and to confidence in the distant future. He taught that: (1) God works through human messengers; (2) Even in defeat and despair God’s people need to affirm God’s sovereignty; (3) God’s Word never fails; (4) God is present and can be worshiped anywhere; (5) People must obey God if they expect to receive blessings; and (6) God’s Kingdom will come.
Key Verses:
Ezekiel 2:3-6, “He said: ‘son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says.” And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.'”
Me From the Inside Out 