Tag: Zechariah

Posted in Advent, Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time, Rejoice

OUR RESCUER

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based on the LGG Advent Study, Rejoice / w1d3

Today’s Scripture: Luke 1: 68-75 (74); Zechariah 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18

We have been rescued from our enemies
    so we can serve God without fear,

Luke 1:74

This is the third day of our study and the second day of reading Zachariah’s song of praise in Luke 1:68-75. Today’s focus is on verse seventy-four, but I was drawn once again to verses sixty-eight and sixty-nine, where we read the prophecy of Zechariah that God had come to help and redeem His people. As bibleref.com writes: “His song of praise emphasizes how God’s promises, as given through His prophets, have always come true. That the world has seen the fulfillment of prophecy and will soon see more is reason to worship. That also comes with joy, as the role of this Messiah will be that of Savior.”

Helped…Redeemed…Saved…Rescued

We needed God’s help, we needed someone to redeem us, someone who could save us from our sins – so in love, God sent His Son Jesus to rescue us from sin and death. We were once covered with filthy rags but now we have been freely forgiven, cleansed of our sins and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. As the writer of Hebrews points out, only Jesus could destroy the devil, and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. Only He could serve as our great high priest and make the proper and lasting atonement for our sins.

God’s people needed to be rescued, so He sent them a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Through God’s tender mercies, He opened the doorway for the adoption of many sons and daughters who were not born of the seed of Abraham to be called His own. In love, God positions them as joint heirs with His only begotten Son, Jesus. – I love the closing paragraph of today’s journal entry in the LGG Rejoice Journal – may it be an encouragement for us – as children of God to walk in the freedom Christ died to give us – and live the righteous lives God has called us to.

“As Zechariah sings, Jesus has come to redeem us so that we can serve God in holiness.”

Rejoice Journal/p51

“Jesus not only forgives those who trust in Him, but changes us, giving us the power to live righteous lives. We ourselves can’t break the chains of our selfishness, bad attitudes, or destructive behavior, but Jesus can. He is strong enough to free us from anything that still holds us in bondage. When we go to Him in faith and ask Him for forgiveness and deliverance from sin, He will answer. He wants to fill us with His love so that we can live fully surrendered to His will and way as well as live selflessly for other people. Our enemy trembles when we pray like this ” Rejoice Journal/p51

Rejoice in this song about our Rescuer – who has set us free from sin forevermore.

Posted in Advent, Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time, Rejoice

Blessed be the Lord

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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.

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Seeing God’s Unfailing Love

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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.

SOAP

Nehemiah 9:33-38 (33)

“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.

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living In Community, Not Made to Be Alone, Quiet Time

It’s A Gift

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based on, Not Made To Be Alone, a Love God Greatly study / w4d3

Today’s Reading: Zechariah 4:8-10 / SOAP: 9-10

 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies said, ‘Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other. 10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the resident foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow citizen.


Zechariah 7:9-10
Love Like God

I love the way the LGG devotion for today describes this text. The writer opens by explaining that the name Zechariah means, “Yahweh Remembers.” And she goes on to explain that the message of Zechariah is one of hope, namely that “God would remember His people. He is always with us no matter the circumstances” of our life. The writer breaks this down even further with these examples – “heartache, unexpected pain, or long-term suffering.” She writes, “God remembers us. He shows us compassion when we need it most, serving as the perfect example so that we, who are created in His image, can reflect that care to others.” In other words – love like God.

Compassion

One of my favorite verses is found in Lamentations chapter three, where we read that God’s compassions, or His mercies as some translations define it, are new every morning. Jeremiah says they never end, they are fresh every morning and speak of the abundance of God’s faithfulness.

The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases;
his compassions never end.
23 They are fresh every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant!
24 “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself,
so I will put my hope in him.

Lamentations 3:22-24

This was made even sweeter to me today as I read the LGG devotion and their explanation and commentary on the word “compassion”. The word “comes from two Latin words that mean ‘to suffer with’. The writer clarifies, “It is not just sympathy, but empathy.” But I especially love this next comment, “It is walking with someone else as they go through a difficult time, the same way God shows compassion to us by promising to never leave us or abandon us.” Isn’t that beautiful? What a great illustration of how we can encourage and show compassion to others in not only our biblical communities but our family and friend communities as well. As the writer made a point to say, “it is a gift to have a group of like-minded believers [church/biblical community] who will not simply feel sad for us but will choose to walk through life with us.”

Who is Included?

Clearly, from the passage today, we are to care for the widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor and weak – those who need us most – seems to be the idea. As the devotional writer put it, “No one in need of help should be ignored, overlooked, or forgotten.” We don’t get to pick and choose – for as the author says, “Everyone — from our sister to a stranger — is deserving of compassion.”

Our verse from the previous post reminded us that we are meant to be the lights of God to the world/communities around us. In a ‘me, me, me’ culture, I believe reflecting Him to the world through our love and compassion to those in need will be a very bright light.

Response to God’s Word

“May we be women who are good stewards of the gifts, time, and resources God has given us as we show those precious people God has placed in our lives that they are seen, known, and loved.”

borrowed from the LGG devotion from w4d3
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