Birth Of John The Baptist

Luke 1:56-66(NLT) Before John is born Mary returns back home. She had been with Zechariah and Elizabeth for three months. When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby the word spread quickly to her neighbors and relatives that the Lord had been very kind to her, and everyone rejoiced with her. When the baby was eight days old, all the relatives and friends came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah after his father but Elizabeth said, "No! His name is John!" There is no one in the family named John so they asked to speak to Zechariah. Zechariah m0rtioned for a writing tablet and everyone's surprise he wrote, "His name is John!" Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God. Wonder fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. The question was asked, "I wonder what this child will turn out to be? For the hand of the Lord is surely upon him in a special way.

Mary Sings Song Of Praise

Luke 1:47-56 (NLT) "Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation will call me blessed. For he, the Mighty One, is holy, and he has done great things for me. His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who fear him. His mighty arm does tremendous things! How he scatters the proud and haughty ones! He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. And how he has helped his servant Israel! He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful. For he promised our ancestors-Abraham and his children-to be merciful to them forever."

Mary Visits Elizabeth

Luke 1:39-45 Mary Visits Elizabeth A few days after Mary was told she was going to have a baby she hurried to the hill-country of Judea where Zechariah lived. When she entered the house and greeted Elizabeth the sound of Mary's voice made John leap in Elizabeth's body and Elizabeth was filled the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, "You are blessed by God above all other women, and your child is blessed. What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! When you came in and greeted me, my baby jumped for joy the instant I heard your voice. You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." Thought: What a difference between Zechariah and Mary. When Zechariah heard what the angel had to tell him he didn't believe what the angel said. He was not able to speak and wouldn't be able to speak until the baby was born. Mary, on the other hand, believed what the angel told her and know she was called a blessed woman and she was going to be the mother of the Lord. I can't even imagine how Mary was feeling.

Birth Of Jesus Foretold

Review Zechariah was visited by the angel Gabriel in the Temple. He was told that his wife Elizabeth would conceive and they were going to have a baby and he was to call his name John. Zechariah did not believe the angel and because of this his speech was taken away and he it would not return to him until the baby was born. He went home to Elizabeth and she did conceive and we left off where she was 5 months pregnant. When Elizabeth was six months pregnant the same angel that visited Zechariah came to Mary who was in Nazareth in Galilee. Mary was a virgin and she was engaged to be married to Joseph a descendant of King David. The angel greeted Mary with "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.!" Mary was confused and disturbed, she tried to think what the angel was talking about. Then Gabriel explained to her that she was going to become pregnant and have a son and she was to name Him Jesus. He would be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He would reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!" Mary asked the question, "How can she have a baby for she knew not a man, she was a virgin? The angel told her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called Son of God. Also Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! For nothing is impossible with God." Mary believed the angel and told him, "I am the Lord's servant and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." I am so glad that Mary believed the angel. She had faith in her Lord. She knew what would happen once Joseph found out about her being pregnant. It would hurt him deeply. She loved the Lord with all of her heart and she wanted to please Him. I am not so sure I would have responded like Mary did. How about you? Would you have responded like Mary or would you be more like Zechariah?

Birth Of John the Baptist Foretold

Birth Of John The Baptist Foretold Luke 1:5-25 It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah. He lived when Herod was king of Judea. Zechariah was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, His wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and now they were both very old. One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple and an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was overwhelmed wit fear. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And your are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice with you at his birth, for he will great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or hard liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth, and he will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom." Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I know this will happen? I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years." "I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was He who sent me to bring you this good news! And now, since you didn't believe what I said, you won't be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly come true at the proper time. Meanwhile, people were waiting for Zechariah to come out, wondering why he was taking so long. When he finally did come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures that he must have seen a vision in the Temple sanctuary. He stayed till his of service was over then he went home to his wife Elizabeth, and she shortly afterward became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. "How kind is the Lord. He has taken away my disgrace of having no children!" What a great start to our Christmas story!

Christmas Season

Now I feel comfortable in doing the Christmas story. It is a short story and it is only found in two of the Gospels, Luke and Matthew. There are many characters found in the Christmas story. Priest Zachariah, his wife Elizabeth, John, Mary, Joseph, the Angel, Angels, Shepards, King, Wise Men, Simeon and Anna. We will look in Luke and take a few verses a day and do a summary of what took place. Get your Bibles and join me in this wonderful account of our Lord Jesus and His birth.

Thanksgiving Theme

Being that this is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, it is appropriate to think on the theme of Thanksgiving. The other day I said I was thankful for family and friends and today I want to mention my church family. I have been with my church off and on now for 46 years. I found it is a great church to be part of. We have three Pastors. One is our main Pastor, one is our Youth Pastor, and the last one works with the Seniors in our congregation. All are very busy and on occasion they take turns to preach. Our church is a very caring church. We have a prayer line which is used when church is not in session. I have needed to us this prayer line a few times. It is great to know that people are praying when going through a tough time. We have get-togethers often and it is nice to fellowship around a dinner table and eat great food. I think this is one of our favorite times together. Coming up we are having a baptism and communion in the same service which ought to be very exciting and reflecting on the last supper in which the Lord took bread and ate and took drink which represents His blood. I pray that you also have a good church you are attending. One that preaches God's Word and is a praying church. Happy Thanksgiving!

Forgiveness

Today I was reading from a devotional book on forgiveness. If we want to be in the center of God's will we need to make sure that we have forgiven the people who may have hurt us in the pass. Love your enemies and those that who spitefully use you. When I was taking care of my mother at the end of her life she was making life very difficult. I prayed a lot and I finally had to stop taking care of her for awhile. It was a hard decision at the time. I had to forgive my Mom for all the things that she did at the end and most of my life. It was hard thing to do but I knew I needed to do so. As God if there is anyone you need to ask forgiveness for.

Be Thankful For Your Processions

Yesterday, our Pastor spoke on being thankful for our processions. God gives us what we have. It is His gift to us. Think about what you have. I am very thankful for the normal things such as my husband, my children, my grandchildren, my home. I am also thankful for the food that I have. Sometimes it may be the same food more than once during the week but I have food. I am thankful for all of my seventeen medicines I need to take. Without them I would be in big trouble. I need to be thankful and also content. Seventeen medicine is a lot to take in a day. But the illnesses I have require this amount. I feel good when all of them work as they should. I am also thankful for the local fitness center that is near me. I feel much better when I go and use the stationary bike and the treadmill. It is my get away. What are you thankful for and are you content with what you have?

Being Creative

This morning my husband and I went to a craft show at our local Hight School. I always enjoy seeing what other people have created with their hands. This years show had pretty much all the same type of displays. Handmade soap, glazed coasters, jewelry, some homemade candles. I did buy one thing for my friend. I like to do crafts. Right now I am into making a scrapbook. Taking some of my rolls of paper and cutting them up and putting them down to make pages. I already have one side with dried paint on it with different designs. It is going together nicely. Do any of you have a craft projects that you do? If you would like to share would be glad to hear from you. God gives people the gift of making things to enrich the lives of others. It is also a good therapy method for those who need something to keep them busy. It is like music and calms the soul.

Big Snow Storm

Our household is calming down. I am getting back to being my old self and the depression is going away. I am so grateful to the Lord for this and it is an answer to many prayers being send up to God on my behalf. Yesterday was our biggest snow storm of the year so far. Where we live we got 8 inches of snow. My husband went out and shoveled it all this morning. It was a heavy snow but he did alright with it. He had to do our stairs, sidewalk, and driveway. Sometimes our neighbor helps out. Hope things are going well for all who are reading this and will talk to you again soon.

Search Me O God

Psalm 139:23-24 are the last two verses we have to look at. Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. To me these verses seem to be a prayer. A prayer that is the kind that I would want to be said and mean it. Who know what God may bring to my mind. Am I ready to do a pray like this? Are you ready to do a pray like this?

Hate God's Enemies

Psalm 139:19-22 (New Living Translation) O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! They blaspheme you; your enemies take your name in vain. O LORD, shouldn't I hate those who hate you? Yes, I hate them with complete hatred, for your enemies are my enemies. Hate means to dislike strongly. Do we, like the writer of Psalm 139, hate those who are our Lord's enemies? The writer of Psalm 139 did. He hated with complete hatred the enemies of the Lord!

God Thinks About Me!

God thinks about those He has created. Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

I'm fearfully and wonderfully made

As I read Psalm 139:13-16 I realize that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And since I am this I have no reason to feel insecure and to have the attitude I am inferior. See if you agree with these verses in your own life.

Psalm 139:13-16 New Living Translation

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!

I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

I Can Never Escape From God's Spirit

Psalm 139:7-12
I can never escape from your spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
If I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
If  I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are both alike to you.

Trying Again

It seems like when I am not doing a blog I come up with all kinds of ideas. When I start it up again all the ideas just flee away. Well, I am here again and am going to try again with a daily post. The Lord has been doing so many wonderful things in my life and I feel I need to share this with my readers.

First, I just got out of the hospital. I was in for a week. It was the longest week ever. I learned that I needed to be grateful for all the things going on in my life. Being with other people and I could see what is going on in their lives and realize that I have it real good.

Second, be thankful that I have the Lord as my Savior and Lord. Without Him and His Holy Word I don't know how I would have gotten through my stay at the hospital. I wanted to read a book and there were not any in the room where books were kept. One of the nurses said that they had a book cart so she brought it up to our floor. On the cart were many Bibles so I picked out one and turned to Psalm 139 and began reading. I read the whole chapter. There were so many things in this chapter that helped me through my stay at the hospital I thought I would share the verses in case any of you who are reading are going through some trials at this time.

I believe there is a place in which you can share if you have any comments. I would love to hear from you.

Psalm 139:1-16 New Living Translation
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me,
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my every thought when far away.
You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.
You both precede and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

I will continue on with more verses tomorrow. Hope you feel the presence of the Lord as you read this post.