The One

Who is this child whose star was seen by wise men

Who is the one who made the blind to see

Who is the man who walked upon the water

The one that evil nailed upon a tree

He is God

He is King

He is Wonderful

And we sing

Jesus Bless His Holy name

He will never change

And His word proclaims 

That He loves us

He is the One Who brought to me salvation

He saved me from my sin and misery

He led me to the well of living water

He broke my bonds forever I am free

He is God

He is King

He is Wonderful

And we sing

Jesus Bless His Holy name

He will never change

And His word proclaims 

That He loves us now

Do You

And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." Luke 1:18

Zacharias was a priest of the Lord and was shocked when the angel Gabriel was waiting to speak to him when he entered into the Holy Place of the temple to offer incense to the Lord. I think I would be shocked to see an angel and then to have him speak to me and tell me that astounding things were going to happen in my life.

Think though of Zacharias' words, "How shall I know this?" he asked. I don't think this question all by itself is wrong, what I believe is that Zacharias, a priest of the Lord, doubted when the very God he served sent his messenger to tell him that his prayers had been answered. He was not a bad man, but this priest no longer expected new things from the Lord. "I am old, having a child is not God's will for me" he could have thought.

James says in James 3:17 that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure." You wonder why Zacharias was not thinking of the God above and all the miracles He had done in previous generations. Maybe as an old man he had seen too much pain, too much disappointment, sickness and death, so much so that he had stopped expecting great things from the God of the supernatural.

"Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her." (Luke 1:38) Mary had a different response. She also was fearful at first of the angel but responded in faith. Though she could not explain these pronouncements with earthly wisdom she was humble and believed.

Oh that we would be like Mary, believing though we are not seeing. Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29, "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."
The God we worship calls us to believe. Jesus was born of a virgin. Do you believe? He lived a perfect life without sin. Do you believe? He came to the world to show us how much He loves us. Do you believe? He was crucified, buried, raised and ascended to heaven with his blood to cleanse all who would believe. Do you?

Though Zacharias was a good and righteous man he had become familiar with the power of God. Mary had not. She was young and had the faith of a child. Because of this fact, she was able to accept that God would use her in His plan to save sinners.

Does God want to use you in His plan? I believe He does. Do you?

Enjoy Your Meal

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" John 6:5

What an interesting scene. Jesus, the Man of miracles is seated with His disciples, and He asks them where to buy bread. Philip says that the money they have will not even buy a little for each one. Then Andrew announces that a young boy has five barley loaves and two small fish. It seems that the disciples give up rather quickly knowing that they will not of themselves be able to satisfy the hunger of the crowd. Andrew even asks about the fish and bread, "What are they among so many?"

At that point Jesus told the disciples to have everybody sit down. When I read this I sense anticipation in the words of the disciples. They knew Jesus was going to do something special. They just didn't know what.

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. (John 6:11)

As believers in Christ, we too can look with anticipation to the Lord as we desire to see Him meet the needs of many. The disciples knew they could not meet the needs of these people, and that is a good thing. We can only look to Jesus to see the needs of others met. We can love people, but our love will eventually run out. We can pray and give and help, but we have only so many words and only limited resources and only little bits of time to spare. We can meet peoples needs with our own strength, but what we have to give won't last.

When the five thousand men were full, Jesus told the disciples to ""Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." (John 6:12) Jesus' men got to see that when He meets a need he meets it in abundance with no effort. Oh that we could trust in Jesus for our needs, physical, familial, financial and otherwise. His baskets remain full, he could have fed fifty thousand and still had bread left over for the size of the need is irrelevant to an Almighty God.

If any one of the disciples doubted Jesus, all they had to do was pick up a basket of faith and start eating.
"The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)