God Is with Us

"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people."— Luke 1:68

Immanuel: God is with us—God came to us. What a staggering thought. It is really the essence of the Christian faith and the Christian life. All other religious ideologies essentially tell you that you must do something: Do this, and you will find inner peace. . . . Do this, and you will reach nirvana. . . . Do this, and maybe you will make it to heaven....

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BIBLE MEDITATION:
2 Corinthians 8:2 - “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A man watched a butterfly trying to emerge from a cocoon. Thinking that he would help, the man took his pen knife and slit the side of the cocoon, and the butterfly flopped out. It lay there for a while, feebly beating its wings, then collapsed and died. “How tragic,” you say, and...

December 5, 2009

Presents Or Presence?


READ: 1 John 2:24-29
In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. —Psalm 16:11

Oswald Chambers once wrote: "It is not God's promises we need, it is [God] Himself."

At Christmastime we often say, "God's presence is more important than presents." But the amount of time and effort we spend on shopping for gifts may indicate otherwise. ...

Week of December 4

God Does Big Things with Small Deeds
by Max Lucado

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin" (Zech. 4:10 NLT).

Begin. Just begin! What seems small to you might be huge to someone else. Just ask Bohn Fawkes. During World War II, he piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from n azi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes...