Do you have a tradition you do every year for Christmas or Hanukah?
I started one a few years ago. I have been reading a chapter a day in the book of Luke. I found the challenge to do this on Facebook. I normally start on the first day of December and continue to the 24th.
This year, I only realized that we were 4 days into December and I haven’t read one chapter! How did I forget we were in the month of December??!! Well, there is no shame if you have to catch up. Sometimes life gets in the way. What do I mean by that? Well, some of us have family and life may take a turn from the norm. We all experienced that in 2020 with COVID-19. So, don’t beat yourself up if you are not on pace to finish by Christmas Eve. Just do your best. And as you are reading Luke, ask the Lord to show you something new this year that you didn’t see the last time (for me last year) you were in the book of Luke.
Hope we can follow along together. I will try my best to post where I am in my readings daily.
“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, ...
Fulfillment of God’s Promises
Hundreds of years before Jesus, the people of God were in trouble.
They were stuck in life, unable to help themselves, and perhaps beginning to doubt that God would save them. Have you ever felt the same way? If so, you might relate to the original audience of this verse—the exiles in Babylon.
The Babylonians conquered God's people and land, sending them hundreds of miles away. Maybe they thought that God had abandoned them, or that He couldn’t hear their cries. But God is always close—especially when His people call on His name.
Isaiah let his people know that God would provide a way out of Babylonian captivity. And God kept His promise, allowing His people to return home.
Generations later, many of God’s people saw themselves as being in a new exile. They were home, but all was not well. So they remembered this verse and its promise—that no matter how dark or desperate our situation might be, God is able to provide a path out of brokenness, ...